


When the sun stopped shining

by ShionsTear



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Drama, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-24
Updated: 2017-05-26
Packaged: 2018-10-23 11:28:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 22,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10718469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShionsTear/pseuds/ShionsTear
Summary: Tobio Kageyama is visiting Shouyou Hinata almost every day. But not at Hinata's home, he's in the hospital; in a coma because of an accident. Whenever Kageyama is visiting his hospitalized boyfriend he talks about past experiences and shared memories. How long will Kageyama have to visit Hinata in the hospital? When will he wake up? If he ever wakes up. - a story about forgiving oneself.





	1. A new morning

"Ossu Hinata." I said as I entered the room he was lying in. Like every morning, he was sleeping when I entered and didn't hear my greeting. After I had closed the door behind me I took off my jacket and put it on a chair. His new room still looked unfamiliar to me, but I slowly grew accustomed to it, it just would take some more time I kept on saying to myself. The next thing I did was opening the curtains so that some rays of sunshine could enter through the window, but unfortunately today the sun wasn't shining that brightly.

"How are you feeling? Better than yesterday, or…?" I tried talking to him again, but he still wouldn't answer me. I took a chair and put it next to his bed and then sat down on it. After waiting for a while I stood up again, put the tubes that were leading from his breathing mask to the machine aside and softly kissed him on his forehead.

"Good morning, my sunshine." I whispered to Hinata. I hoped that would wake him up, but I already knew it wouldn't.

Hinata was in a coma.

And this new room of his was a room for patients at the local hospital, Hinata's new home since almost 5 months ago, when he was involved in that accident. I shiver whenever I think back to that scene, it was terrible, I wanted to forget it. But I couldn't. And ever since then my thoughts were filled with guilt.

I was the one responsible for Hinata getting involved in that accident, and just shortly after we finally became a couple. Everyone kept on telling that it wasn't my fault, but it was. Indirectly though, but if I hadn't reacted like I did, it wouldn't have happened. And now the one I loved was lying in front of me, in a coma, and I could do nothing more than hold his hand and talk to him, knowing he wouldn't be able to respond.

I still remember the day I confessed to him, I don't remember any other day of my life where I was as nervous as then. I had a crush on Hinata for quite some time already, even long before I confessed to him. At the beginning, when we first met I never would have thought that I could fall in love with someone like him. We were acting like some kind of rivals, even though we entered the same high school and the same volleyball club. Sure, we had some kind of past from junior high, but that wasn't the main reason we didn't really get along at the beginning. But that changed, we became teammates after a while, also because of the help of the others. And after becoming teammates we ended up being friends as well. And slowly but surely those feelings of friendship started to get stronger, although, to be honest, I never thought I would like other guys, but I never had any romantic feelings, left alone romantic relationships with other people, so I didn't see it as something 'strange' how some people would think of it, I just accepted it.

The problem was though, that I didn't know if I should confess to him or not. How would he react? Maybe he'd be grossed out, I just didn't know, I never had to deal with those kind of feelings, I didn't know how to act. And suddenly asking him out would be too random. I came to the conclusion that I needed a plan. So one day I asked my big sister for some advice. She was the only one that knew about my feelings towards Hinata; I wasn't ready to tell other people yet.

"Advice? About how to ask him out? What for? A date?" she asked like I wanted her to do the most irrational thing she had ever heard of.

"Well… yes. I'd like your help." I answered her with a serious voice.

"So little Tobio is in love and wants help from his beloved big sister, am I interpreting this correctly?" she asked again.

"Yes you are interpreting this correctly, Sora. So, would you mind helping me?"

"I don't know lil' bro, what do I get from helping you out?"

"The conscious that you're a nice big sister who helped his little brother with his problems?"

"Hmm, I don't know if that's enough and…"

"I'll do your part of the chores for the next two weeks." her eyes widened all of a sudden, I knew she'd fall for that bait.

"Okay then, what is your problem?"

"Didn't I already tell you? I don't know what to do concerning Hinata."

"Why don't you just ask him out then?"

"Out of the blue?!"

"Why not? You'll have to start somewhere, if not you'll never know if the two of you could become a couple or not." I hated to accept it, but she was right.

"And how should I do that?"

"How should I know? Ask him if he's free next weekend and if he wants to hang out with you, do some stuff and… I don't know, you're the teenager here, not me."

"Sora you're 18."

"Don't change the subject."

"Okay, then I guess I'll try that out."

"Good boy, make sure to tell our parents when it's official, okay little Tobio?" she said as she patted my head.

"Don't call me little and stop doing that already, okay?" I said, removing her hand from my head.

"Haha, nope." she grinned while standing up and leaving my room. Well then, the next day was a Friday, my last opportunity to ask him. I was confident that I would manage to ask him.

The next day had come and I tried several times to ask him out, but I always messed up and it was already after school and we had to go to the clubroom. I packed my things and left the classroom, still thinking of a way to ask him.

"Oi, Kageyama, heading to the clubroom now?" I heard Hinata's voice from behind. I was so surprised to suddenly hear him that I almost dropped the books I was carrying.

"Uhm… yes, of course. Where else should I be going to now? Airhead!" I said to him.

"No need to call me an airhead because of that, Bakageyama."

"Oi!" I didn't like it when someone called me that.

"Oh oh." Hinata started running away from me, he was laughing.

"Stop it!" I started running as well.

"No running in the corridors, Kageyama-kun." I heard from behind. It was my homeroom teacher.

"Yes ma'am." I said as I stopped running. Hinata was already out of my sight.

"Okay, good job for today, you can leave." Sawamura-san said to us after the training.

"Oooossu!" we all said in unison. That was the perfect time to ask Hinata before he went home, I had to take that chance.

"Y-yo, Kageyama, do you… got a second?" suddenly Hinata was standing behind of me.

"Don't startle me like that, airhead!"

"S-sorry, so… uhm… can I talk to you before you go home? O-only for a… for a minute." he said to me, he seemed nervous.

"Na… of… yes!" I couldn't decide between 'naturally', 'of course' and 'yes', so I ended up saying all three at once.

"O-okay!" he seemed somehow relieved with the answer I gave. What in the world did he want to tell me?

After having changed clothes I was waiting at our school's front gate. I had to ask him before going home, no matter what. After some minutes Hinata finally arrived.

"Thanks for waiting, so… listen… I'll k-keep this short. Uhm, Kageyama… do you… do you wanna hang out tomorrow?!" he had closed his eyes. Seemingly nervous he was waiting for an answer. I was perplexed, he asked the very same thing I wanted to ask him.

"H-haaaaaa?" I was visibly confused. I think I even blushed a bit.

"K-kageyama?" he slowly opened one eye after the other, still waiting for an answer.

"YES!" I said out of nowhere.

"Ahhh, okay I'm sorry I asked you and- what? Y-yes?" now Hinata was the perplexed one.

"Y-yes. Sure, why… why not? R-right?" I was nervous again.

"Y-yes, why… why not? We're fr… friends after all, haha, right?" we were both nervous and I didn't get why.

"Y-yeah. That's right. So, uhm… I-I'll text you later… about tomorrow… and s-stuff, okay?"

"O-okay Oh, look! Your sister is coming, I-I'll be going home now. See ya!" he said as he climbed on his bicycle and left. Shortly after Sora was standing at the gate too.

"Sora, why are you still here?" I asked my sister.

"I may have had club activities?"

"Oh, right."

"So, what were you talking with Hinata about? Huh? Huh?"

"He asked me if I wanted to hang out tomorrow." I said to her, still not really believing what had just happened.

"Ohoho, see? I told you."

"Y-yeah…"

"Come on, let's go home."

"Y-yeah…"

After arriving home and eating dinner, I went upstairs and entered my room. Then I sat down on my chair and took my phone out of my pocket and texted Hinata about tomorrow. After some minutes of texting we agreed on a time and a place, we'd be meeting at the entrance of the amusement park at ten o'clock in the morning. I knew it wasn't a date, but it surely felt like one. At least I thought that was what dates felt like, I never was on one before, so I didn't know. I decided to go to bed early so that I wouldn't be tired when I met Hinata the next day.

The next day I was already standing in front of the amusement park at half past nine, I was there 30 minutes before we actually agreed to meet. I was nervous, I wanted to make sure to be there on point. And I had promised myself that I would confess to him at the end of the day. I had to do it, no matter what his reaction should be.

As I was waiting for Hinata to arrive I noticed something that had happened the day before. How did Hinata know that Sora is my elder sister? I never told anyone that I had siblings, I didn't see the need to. I decided to ask him during the day. When I looked at my watch it was already ten minutes past ten. Hinata was being late, but then after five more minutes he finally arrived there and I suddenly noticed that I had never seen him in casual clothes, only in the school's uniform, in our school's track suits or in our volleyball uniform. I couldn't help but stare at him as he approached the entrance were I was standing. He was wearing a sleeveless shirt, shorts and a pair of sneakers. Also, he had some bracelets on both arms and was wearing a hat. I didn't know exactly why, but he looked extremely cute and I had to blush.

"H-hey Kageyama, sorry for being late, I overslept. Were you waiting for a long time already?" he apologized with a big smile on his face.

"N-no, totally not. I just got here some minutes before you, no big deal, haha." I lied to him, I didn't want to tell him the truth, whatever the reason for that was, I didn't know it myself either.

"S-so, shall we enter then?" he asked me.

"S-sure, why not?" I hoped that my nervousness would go away by itself, I didn't want to spend the day with Hinata while being nervous.

We started by going onto the highest and fastest roller coaster. Luckily, I could handle roller coaster and that stuff quite well, so I had no problems. Not like Hinata, apparently. But according to him he wasn't scared of riding them, he just didn't do it that much, so he had to get used to them every time he went to an amusement park. I had to laugh when he explained it to me and from that point onwards I think I lost all my nervousness and could finally start enjoying the day with Hinata.

We probably got on every ride and spent the day with eating sweets, getting on rides, hoping that the sweets wouldn't find their way back out through our mouths, talking about lots and lots of things and laughing all the time. I was really enjoying myself, and Hinata seemed to like it a lot too, I had never seen him that happy, and I was very happy too.

It was almost 4pm when we decided to take a little break and sat down on a bench. That was my chance I thought to myself. I had to confess now, it was the perfect timing.

"Uhm… listen, Hinata. I have something to tell you." I broke the silence.

"Y-yes, Kageyama?" he slowly started to turn his head towards my direction. I took a deep breath and started talking again.

"See… I was really happy when you asked me to hang out, yesterday. In fact, I was about to ask you the same thing, but you were faster. And, well… it probably hasn't the same meaning as it has for me, because… you know… I, uhm, I really like you, Hinata. But, not only as a friend, I'd like to be more than just 'friends' with you… if… if you understand what I'm trying to say." I was talking with my eyes closed and only opened them after I made a little break to see how he had reacted to what I just said. When I turned my head to Hinata his face was redder than a tomato.

"Hinata! Are you okay? Do you have a heat stroke? Do you need to go out of the sun? Hinata?! Hinata!" I was holding his shoulders and shaking him, I didn't know what to do.

"Ah. What. AH. I'm okay. Okay." he finally said. I stopped shaking him, still holding him.

"Hinata, are you okay? Why are you so red? Hinata."

"I… you… what you just said…"

"Oh, right, I wasn't finished. So, basically, what I wanted to tell you… I'm in love with you, Hinata. And I wanted you to know it." I took another deep breath. I said it.

And suddenly I felt something around me. Someone was hugging me, Hinata was hugging me. I had to blush instantly.

"Ah, Hinata. What are you doing?! Let go of me, airhead!" I tried to pull his arms away, but he was hugging me with all his strength.

"Bakageyama!"

"H-haaa?!"

"Stupid Kageyama! You're always faster than me, you never give me a chance to be the first one. You're always the first one."

"Haaaa?!" I was so confused and still blushing because my crush I just had confessed to was hugging me, in front of hundreds of other people.

"What I want to say… I… me too."

"You what?"

"I want us to be more than just friends too, Bakageyama!"

"You… w-what?"

"I love you too, for crying out loud!" he said it out of the blue. I was speechless. I had not expected that to happen?! I was not ready for that. I hadn't included that in my plans. What was I supposed to do?!

"You… too? I… and you too? And… we?"

"Mhm!"

"D-does that mean we're a couple now?" that was the only thing that came into my mind.

"I-I guess so, if you want. I'd love to be y-your b… b-b… boyf… boyf-friend."

"O-okay. Me, me too. C-could you stop hugging me nonetheless? It is kind of embarrassing."

"Oh! Right! Sorry, haha." he stopped hugging me. We were now sitting next to each other, both remaining in silence. We clearly didn't know what to do.

"C-can I hold your hand though?" I asked him, still blushing.

"S-sure." he said while stretching out his hand into my direction. He was blushing as well.

We were holding hands.

"Hmm…"

"What?"

"I could get used to this."

"B-bakageyama!" he said while turning his head away, blushing even more than before.

"Haha, I'm sorry." I couldn't help but laugh and then Hinata joined me. We were both truly happy.

Then we spent the rest of the day at the amusement park, until it closed. After that we went home, we had promised to be texting with each other as soon as we would have gotten home. It was one of the most beautiful days I had ever spent.

"Haha, Hinata, remember when you almost had to puke after that one roller coaster?! You said you'd be okay, but you shouldn't have eaten the cotton candy before the ride." I was thinking back of our first date in the amusement park, still sitting next to Hinata, who was still lying on that hospital bed. I always told him stories of the past when I visited him, never giving up the hope that he could wake up from it. But of course, he didn't wake up that time either.

I was gently holding his hand whenever I talked to him, to make sure he knew I was there, that I'd be waiting for him. And it wouldn't matter how long it would take. I would be the one waiting by his side when he would wake up. There was always a new morning coming, and with every new morning a new hope arose that maybe he would awaken that day.


	2. Sho-chan and To-chan

It was raining all day long already, but that didn't matter to me. It was Sunday and I didn't intend to go somewhere else, I wanted to stay by Hinata's side. I was holding one of his hands when I started talking to him again.

"Oh right, did you know? Yachi got really used to the job as a manager, she says she enjoys it a lot and Shimizu-senpai also agreed that Yachi would be a great new manager once the third years would leave. And speaking of them, the others of the team are missing you too, you know? And believe it or not, even Tsukishima misses you. Well, yeah, he says he has no one to tease if you're not there, but he still misses you. Kinda, I guess. Okay no, he's still a jerk, but one that still has a heart. A little heart though." and that was the kind of stuff I always talked about when I visited Hinata. Sometimes it was only daily stories that were not more interesting than mere small talk, sometimes I told him some news or how club training was, I talked to him about volleyball too, of course. There were times too when I didn't feel like talking. During those times I often just sat there and held his hand. Sometimes I laid my head onto his chest and when I did, I could always hear his heart beating and how he was breathing. It felt warm; it was the nearest I could be with the one I loved, it made me happy.

"Oh, by the way, I bought new shoes for the club, my old ones were already too old, I really needed new ones. They were almost falling apart, Sawamura-san told me to get new ones or I wouldn't be allowed to continue training, haha. You need new shoes as well I guess. We should go buy you some when you're back, how about it, huh?" I stood up and awaited an answer, but none came. Instead, I heard the door opening behind of me and another familiar voice started talking.

"To-chan! Hello, are you visiting Sho-chan too?!" it was Natsu's voice, Hinata's little sister. Every Sunday his mother and little sister came to visit him and I would be there too, I always tried to visit him at least four times a week, and Sunday was the day I always went to see him.

"Hello Natsu! Are you visiting your big brother again?" I said while turning back.

"Of course! I have to see if Sho-chan wakes up!"

"That's very nice of you, Natsu. You're already behaving like a real adult!"

"Hehe, I know!" she said proudly. Behind of her was Hinata's and Natsu's mother.

"Good day Kageyama-kun. I see you're here with Shouyou again. Thank you so much for all the visits you pay him. I think Shouyou would be very happy to know that his boyfriend comes to visit him that often. I really appreciate it." she said.

"Hello Haruka-san, of course, I want to see how he's doing. And it's really no problem, I have enough time to visit him." I said with a smile while Natsu reached the bed where her brother was lying.

"Hey, wanna sit on my lap, Natsu?" I asked her.

"Yeeeees, take me up To-chan!"

"Okay! There you go! Aaaaand hop!" I said as I grabbed her and put her on my lap so that she could see Hinata as well.

"Hey! Sho-chan! Wakey, wakey, it's time to get up! You're late for school again!" she said to her sleeping brother.

"Exactly! Do what your sister tells you, you airhead!"

"Yes! You airhead!" she repeated the words I said.

"Doesn't work." she said after some seconds.

"It looks like that. Your brother really is an airhead. He's probably dreaming very deeply right now."

"Really? Dreaming of what?"

"I don't know, hmm… we should ask him as soon as he wakes up, okay?"

"Okay!" I was happy when Natsu and Haruka-san came to the hospital. Haruka-san took the second chair in the room and positioned herself next to me. Seeing the three of them always reminded me of what a great and nice family Hinata had. It always reminded me of how I got to know them.

It was raining that day too. I remember how Hinata was waiting for me at the exit of the school because I had told him before that I had forgotten my umbrella at my house. So he said we could walk home together to his house and then he'd lend me his umbrella. That was only two weeks after our first date at the amusement park, we were a couple by then, but only those of the volleyball club knew about it, we didn't want everyone to know.

After I had given some files to one of the teachers I headed straight to the exit where Hinata was already waiting.

"Sorry I'm late, I had to give those files to a teacher and then she-" but before I could finish my sentence Hinata had kissed me.

"A-airhead! What are you doing?" I stepped back and started blushing.

"I think that's what they call 'a kiss' nowadays." he said sarcastically.

"I didn't mean that! Don't do that in the public, what if someone sees us?"

"Come on, everyone's gone already, no one's here anymore." Hinata said while waving around his arms.

"O-okay, but be more careful next time."

"Ossu!"

And after that we started walking home. I was holding the umbrella; I clearly was the bigger of us and even though he didn't like that fact he had to accept it. After around half an hour of walking we reached his house and just when I wanted to hand him his umbrella a strong gust of wind blew away the umbrella and the heavy rain was mercilessly falling on us. We quickly ran to the door where we could stand under the roof.

"Uhm… well…" was the first thing that Hinata said.

"Exactly." I said. My clothes were soaking wet, and so where Hinata's.

"Uhm, do you wanna come in and dry up a little and maybe wait until the rain stops? Or at least until it doesn't rain that much. Well?" he finally asked me.

"O-okay, I'll take the offer. Thanks."

"No problem, you're my boyfriend after all. But… you don't need to tell my family, they kind of don't know about it yet."

"Uhm, sure. Got it." and after things were cleared he opened the door.

"I'm baaaack!" Hinata yelled through the entire house.

"Welcome back, Shouyou." I heard a female voice saying. It was probably his mother.

"Mom, I brought a friend with me, he'll wait until it stops raining, okay?" he said while we were taking off our wet shoes.

"Alright. Make sure to open the umbrella so that it can dry."

"Well, you see… about the umbrella…" he said while walking in. He signalized me to wait there and then he disappeared through a door.

I was standing at the entrance of Hinata's house, waiting for him to come back and tell me what I should do. My clothes were still soaking and a tiny lake had been created under my feet. Then, suddenly, I heard some footsteps that were getting louder and louder and suddenly a little girl was standing in front of me.

"Welcome back Sho-channnn-nnnot. You're not Sho-chan, who are you?" the little girl asked me with crossed arms.

"Uhm, hi, I'm Tobio Kageyama, I'm a friend of Hinata. I mean, of Shouyou Hinata." I said to her while bowing down to make eye contact with her.

"To-bi-o? That's a funny name, I'll call you To-chan. Mooooooom, To-chan is soaking wet and there's a lake in the corridor now." the little girl yelled towards where Hinata disappeared some moments ago.

"-and how did you lose the umbrella? How can you even lose an umbrella? Sometimes I ask myself what you do with your things, Shouyou." a woman said while coming out of the door and Hinata behind of her.

"Mooom, To-chan's wet." the little girl repeated.

"Natsu, who's To-chan?"

"I guess that's me. My name's Tobio Kageyama, sorry for the intrusion and thanks that I can wait here." I said to her while bowing down.

"Oh my, you're also soaking wet, just like Shouyou. Come on you two, get upstairs and change into a new pair of clothes. My name is Haruka Hinata, just call me Haruka, I'm Shouyou's mother, it's a pleasure to meet you Kageyama-kun." she finally said.

"The pleasure's all mine, Haruka-san." I said while bowing down again.

"Come on, get going Shouyou, I need to continue cooking. Natsu, do you wanna help me?" she asked the little girl. Apparently she was called Natsu and I guessed she was Hinata's little sister.

"Yeeeees!" she said and quickly run into the kitchen.

"Okay okay. Kageyama wait a sec, I gotta go and take something from the living room." Hinata said as he turned back and started running.

"Ossu." I answered him.

"I'm back, dad." Hinata said while running past an opened door and turning his head to look into that room. I wanted to greet his father as well, so I moved forward until I reached the door.

"Sorry for the intrusion, I'm-" I bowed down and when I looked up again I couldn't finish the sentence. The room was empty, instead of a father sitting on a couch and reading the newspaper, what I saw was a little altar with a photograph of a man. Right at the same time Hinata was already back and saw how I was looking into that room.

"I'm sorry, uhm, can I…" I pointed towards the little altar, asking if it was okay for me to go in.

"Uhm, sure, you really don't have to if you don't want, it's totally okay, you know?" Hinata said to me. But I still wanted to and entered the room. I stopped in front of the altar, kneeled down, rang the little bell on the side and put my hands together. Then I closed my eyes and started praying for his father. I wanted to show my respect.

After a little while I stood up again and left the room. I bowed down to his father one last time before I joined Hinata who was sitting on the stairs, waiting for me.

"Thank you, Kageyama." he seemed to be very happy about what I did and that made me happy too.

"Well then, let's go upstairs."

After having dried up a bit, we went downstairs again. The smell of something to eat was hanging in the air and I couldn't help but sniff.

"Smells nice." I said, not noticing that Hinata wasn't standing next to me.

"What are you doing, To-chan?" Natsu suddenly was standing next to me.

"I, uhm… was sniffing the air. Is your mother cooking dinner?"

"Yes. Probably. Why? Do you want to eat here too?"

"Nah, it's okay, I can't just stay here and-"

"Mom, can To-chan stay here for dinner? He's sniffing and seems to be hungry already!" Natsu yelled through the entire house.

"Sure! But tell him to call his parents and ask first!" the mother replied, also yelling from the kitchen. This family seemed to yell a lot I thought to myself.

"Mom said you have to call your parents first, To-chan."

"But I don't have my phone with m-"

"Mom! To-chan said he forgot his phone!"

"Tell him he can use our phone!"

"To-chan, mom said you ca-"

"Thank you very much!" I yelled through the entire house. Natsu started laughing and I had to laugh too.

"Why are you two yelling and laughing?" Hinata had appeared again.

"I... I wanted to try it out too." I said a bit embarrassed.

"Huh?" Hinata was obviously confused.

"Nothing. It's a secret between Natsu and me. Right?" I looked at Natsu, her eyes started twinkling.

"Yes! It's a secret between To-chan and me and you can't know, Sho-chan." she said while smiling.

"Ehhh?" Hinata seemed like he wanted to know what we were talking about, but it was Natsu's and my secret now.

After that, Hinata showed me where their phone was and I called home. After 5 minutes I hung up again and I said I could stay for dinner. When Natsu heard, she was overly happy, grabbed my hand and showed me her room and all her stuffed animals. She told me all of her stuffed animals' names. I thought Natsu was an adorable little sister, way cuter than my own sister.

"Natsu, don't bother Kageyama if he doesn't want to know all of the names." Hinata said after a while.

"It's okay. I don't mind." I said.

"See, Sho-chan? To-chan is nicer than you." Natsu said. I had to laugh and Hinata was pouting.

"Say, Sho-chan? Is To-chan your friend?" Natsu asked her brother.

"He isn't only a friend, I like him a looooooot." Hinata said while making a big circle with his arms.

"And you To-chan?" Natsu looked at me.

"I like him a loooooot too!" I said as well.

"I like you too, To-chan." she said while hugging me.

"But, I like your brother in a different way. Do you understand that, Natsu?"

"Hmm… I think I do, yes. But that's okay. Oh look, there's Nanika!" she said while pointing towards a doll with big black eyes and a black mouth. The doll looked somehow creepy, yet somehow cute at the same time too.

After some more minutes we heard their mother's voice from the kitchen, yelling again.

"Shouyou! Natsu! Kageyama-kun! Dinner's ready!"

"Coming!" Hinata was the one to answer her. We stood up and walked into the kitchen's direction. Then everyone sat down.

"Let's dig in!" Hinata, Natsu and their mother said in unison.

"Thank you for the meal." I said afterward. I took my first bite, and the food was delicious.

"Ahh… it's delicious." I said shortly before continuing eating.

"I know right? Mom is the best." Hinata said.

"Thank you Shouyou, so you'll eat all the vegetables today?" Hinata's mother said with a grin. I liked his mother.

"Uhm, I… well…" he stopped talking and continued eating, I had to laugh at that scene. After that we continued eating without any further interruptions, but then, Natsu suddenly said something we wouldn't have expected.

"Mom? Sho-chan and To-chan like each other, are they a couple now?" Natsu asked her mother. Both Hinata and me started choking and coughing. I had to drink a bit of my drink in order to not suffocate.

"N-Natsu! Why did you say that?!" Hinata was panicking.

"Why not? It's the truth, right?" the innocence and straightforwardness of a little child could be terrific, I thought to myself.

"Oh my, really? My son's first relationship, so he's the one you were always thinking of? I didn't expect it to be him though." Hinata's mother explained.

"Wh-what? You, you knew it?" Hinata asked.

"Shouyou please, it was obvious that you had a crush on someone, I can tell, I'm your mother."

"I…" Hinata didn't know what to answer.

"Well then, I hope you'll take good care of my son, Kageyama-kun." she finally said to me.

"I… I will! Thank you very much!" I said as I stood up and bowed down. I couldn't help but smile and blush at the same time, and when I looked at Hinata he was doing the same. And Natsu was laughing. After dinner we asked ourselves if she had planned that from the beginning, but we never got a chance to actually ask her.

"If you wake up now, I'll give you my dessert from tonight's dinner, okay Sho-chan?" Natsu said, still sitting on my lap.

"Doesn't work, huh?" I told her.

"Hmm, I have another idea, take me close to him, To-chan." Natsu wanted to get nearer to her brother, so I helped her.

"Wake up, Sho-chan." she said after kissing him on his cheek.

"Natsu, don't bother your brother." Haruka-san said.

"To-chan, you try too!" Natsu said to me.

"Ossu." I said and put Natsu on the chair. I was thinking for a while where I should kiss him, but then I just removed his strands of hair that were hanging on his forehead and softly kissed him there.

"Wake up already, sleeping beauty." I whispered to Hinata, hoping that his sister and mother wouldn't hear it, but they did, because they both started giggling right after I said it.

"Sho-chan and To-chan are so cute, right mom?" Natsu asked her mother.

"Yes, yes you're right, honey. But it's already time, we have to go back.

"Okay, bye bye Sho-chan, bye bye To-chan." she said to me while waving with her arms.

"Hey, Natsu, wait a second." I said to her before her mother opened the door to leave the room.

"Whaaaat?"

"Don't tell your brother about what I just called him, okay? This'll be a secret between you and me, okay?"

"Alright! I like keeping secrets with To-chan!"

"Okay. Cool. Then bye bye to you too, Natsu. And goodbye to you too, Haruka-san."

"Goodbye Kageyama-kun, thank you for always taking care of Shouyou, we'll see you next Sunday then, okay?"

"Of course, I did promise to take good care of him after all. See you next week." I said as I waved goodbye to Natsu before she closed the door and left Hinata and me alone. But it was also time for me to get going home. So I stood up, packed my things, bowed down to Hinata and whispered him a few last words.

"Seriously now, Hinata. You should wake up already, your family is missing you a lot, okay?" I patted him on his head and moved my hand through his hair.

"Good night, Hinata. See you tomorrow."


	3. Perpetual reminiscence

It was late when I finally could go to bed. After I had come back from visiting Hinata, I still had to do my homework, and that took quite a while. I didn't like the subject English. Why did I have to learn that language if I was a Japanese anyway? But after some very long minutes I had finished and fell down on my bed.

"I should sleep, tomorrow's gonna be tough." I said to myself. And with that, I turned off the lights and closed my eyes.

The next day arrived and I got ready to head to school. When I arrived there I headed to the vending machine, I wanted to drink a carton of milk, but before I arrived there, a voice called out to me from behind.

"Ossu, Kageyama!" I couldn't believe my ears, but when I suddenly turned around I was indeed looking at Hinata.

"HINATA?!" I screamed in confusion and disbelief. That couldn't be possible, Hinata was lying in a hospital, in a coma. There was no chance for him to be there. Was I seeing things? Was he a hallucination?

"Why are you so pale, Kageyama? Did something happen?" he asked me.

"No. NO! Why are you here?! This can't be." I started doubting my sanity.

"W-what are you talking about, Kageyama?" he tried to approach me. But I backed off. I was scared. Something was wrong.

"N-no. Don't come near me!"

"W-what are you saying?!"

"Leave me alone, I-" but before I could end my sentence, I stumbled and fell on the ground. When I opened my eyes again I was facing the ceiling of my room. It was dark and I was lying on the floor. It was only a dream and I had fallen out of my bed. I sighed in relief and stood up again. When I looked at my alarm clock I saw that it was 1 o'clock in the night and went back to sleep.

When morning came, I went to school like I always did. And then the homeroom lesson started. As the teacher was explaining some things I gazed out of the window. I looked down at the entrance gate of the school and focused my eyes on a silhouette that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. I could only see the back of the person, so I had no chance to see who it was. The person was wearing a hoodie too, so I couldn't identify him or her by the hair colour. But then suddenly the figure started moving around and I felt as if our gazes met. A cold shiver ran down my spine and I closed my eyes for a second, but after I opened them again, the person was gone.

"Kageyama." was being whispered into my ears. I startled and my pencil case fell off my desk, all the eyes in the classroom were now on me.

"Kageyama-kun, please don't disturb the class." the teacher said.

"I'm sorry." I said embarrassed, picking up my pencil case from the floor. What was wrong with me? Did I eat something weird?

"Okay now, let's continue with the attendance list. Hinata Shouyou?" the teacher continued.

"Oi, sensei, pssht, don't you remember what happened?" one of the students said.

"Oh! I am terribly sorry, it wasn't my intention. Why didn't they cross out his name after his passing away, they at least could-"

"WHAT?!" my mind went blank. I stood up reflexively.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!" I was yelling. He couldn't have said that. It wasn't the truth. It was a lie. Hinata did not…

Suddenly the sun stopped shining and it was dark, as if night had come without warning. The lights in the classroom had turned off as well. I was scared again; the room filled with red glowing dots. The eyes of everyone in the room were glowing and they were all fixed on me.

"You heard right, Kageyama-kun. Hinata-kun has died. He won't wake up anymore. He'll sleep his eternal sleep. And everything's your fault." one pair of eyes said.

"Exactly, it's all your fault. You're the reason why Hinata won't wake up." another pair said.

"You know you're the reason, accept it."

"It's your fault."

"Your fault, Kageyama Tobi-"

"NO!" I exclaimed.

"No I'm not!" I yelled at them. Tears started forming in my eyes.

"I…" I didn't know what to say, and then I just started running, I left the classroom, still hearing those voices behind of me, telling me it was all my fault.

I kept running and running in the corridor, it seemed as if it was a corridor with no end. I was running towards a black hole that sucked up everything, and yet I didn't reach an end, I just continued running, not wanting to turn back, not wanting to hear those voices again. I continued running, but then I heard a voice from behind.

"Kageyama." Hinata said. I stopped running and turned back, and a bloodstained Hinata was standing in front of me. I froze, my legs didn't move anymore. I wanted to run, I wanted to keep running. But I couldn't.

"Kageyama… this is all…" Hinata started speaking.

"No. No!" I yelled while tears were flowing down my cheeks.

"This is all… all your fault… Kageyama." he started walking into my direction.

"No! I… I didn't want to… I didn't know…"

"But it happened because of you… Kageyama…" he kept on coming nearer and nearer.

"I…" I was crying and sobbing, not knowing what to do, not being able to run.

"All…" he was now standing right in front of me and leaned forward, his face almost touching mine. A drop of blood was flowing from his right eye down his cheek and then fell on me.

"All your fault, Kageyama…" he whispered and I fell down the stairs that had appeared behind of me and then I hit the ground and-

I woke up in shock. I was sitting on my bed, the bed sheets thrown away, bathed in sweat and breathing heavily. It was only a nightmare. I fell back down on my bed, still kind of out of breath, facing my ceiling. After I calmed down I looked at my alarm clock. It was 3:14am I could go back to sleep, but I didn't want to.

I looked out of the window and noticed that there was no moon. To be more accurate, it was new moon.

"It's all my fault, huh?" I whispered to myself while covering my eyes with my arms. I couldn't help but think back to the cause of these nightmares, the day on which Hinata got involved in that accident and ended up in a coma.

It was a day like any other day, we had already started going out for quite a while and we were happy that we could spend so much time together. Hinata was more outgoing about the fact that we were a couple, I was the more introvert one, but nonetheless I was happy, I just didn't see the need in telling everyone about us, unlike Hinata.

It happened on the way home, school had ended like any other day and we decided to walk home together. Hinata insisted on holding hands, he said that was a normal thing to do for couples, but I didn't want to hold hands just like that in public, so I was walking in front of him, hiding my red face. But Hinata kept on insisting and tried to take my hand again and again, which made me walk faster and faster until the point where I started running. I was being ridiculous, I knew it, but I couldn't help it. I kept on running and crossed a street without looking.

"Kageyama, wai-" but Hinata couldn't finish his sentence. I stopped running and froze in shock, only hearing a chaotic noise mixed together from the cars' horns, the sound of a full braking and people yelling in panic. Tears had already started flowing down my face when I turned around and saw that horrendous scene.

An accident.

"H-H… H-HI—HINATAA!" I screamed and started running back to the street, people were already crowding around the scene.

"I called the ambulance." a man said.

"I'll call the police." another woman said.

When I arrived at the crowd, I started yelling his name over and over again. But when I saw him lying there, not moving and covered in blood my world broke. I had never felt that much despair, I was scared to death, I couldn't do anything else than sob and cry.

When the ambulance arrived they quickly took Hinata with him, because I wouldn't let go of Hinata they ended up taking me to the hospital too. Everything after that happened too quickly as for me to be able to remember any clear scenes, I only remembered that as soon as we arrived at the hospital they took Hinata away from me and I was sent to a room. They told me I needed to calm down and explain to them what had happened.

After some minutes I was in a condition to talk to a person without having to start crying because of what had happened. I explained everything I could think of; nonetheless it wasn't _that_ much, considering the situation I found myself in. After I said everything I could remember, the man that was talking to me, most probably a doctor at the hospital, told me that I could rest reassured. Hinata wasn't in a life-endangering situation anymore, but he also said that he was lying in a coma and that he didn't know when or if Hinata would wake up again. Then he asked me if I wanted to join Haruka-san who was already in Hinata's room. I nodded, even though I didn't know how to face her.

I stood up and slowly walked down the corridor of the hospital. Night had already fallen, the emergency surgery wasn't only quite long but also complicated, there _was_ a slight chance that they couldn't have helped Hinata anymore. The mere thought of that happening was one of the most terrifying feelings I had ever felt.

But even though it was night, it didn't feel like it. The hospital was at full work, everyone seemed to be extremely busy. And then there was me, dragging myself forward, somehow trying to reach the room Hinata was supposed to be in. I wasn't tired or sleepy, but I wasn't awake either. It was a weird state somewhere in between.

After a while, I reached the door of Hinata's room, opened it and entered. As soon as I had closed the door, Haruka-san who was standing next to a bed turned around, and as soon as she noticed me she formed a smile with her mouth. Her mouth may had lied, but her teary eyes showed her true emotions right now.

"I… I…" I didn't know where to start.

"Why don't you… come closer, Kageyama-kun." she said with a fragile voice. Tears started forming in my eyes.

"I don't… I-I did n-not…" I continued walking towards her and noticing how Hinata was lying on that bed, not moving at all. Haruka-san stretched out her arms in front of me.

"Come here." It looked to me as if she wanted to hug me. At first I didn't want to, but then my emotions took control of my movements and I started hugging her.

"I… I o-on… ly… I…" I was sobbing and trying to say something, but I didn't succeed in doing so. And then Haruka-san said something I had never expected her to say.

"Thank you for being there for Shouyou, Kageyama-kun." she said and I started crying out loud, I couldn't hold back anymore I just let everything out. Hinata's mother and me were hugging each other, comforting each other telling ourselves that we'll get through this. While hugging her, I looked out of the window. The moon hadn't been shining, it was a new moon.

"Just like tonight, huh?" I whispered to myself as I dried up my teary eyes. Remembering that night didn't really help, but I was already used to it. But I needed to go back to sleep again, I had to go to school the next day.

The next day passed by in a flash and just as I wanted to go visit Hinata after practice was finally over, Sawamura and the others stopped me.

"Say, Kageyama. Can we accompany you today?" Suga-san asked me.

"We?" I asked confused.

"Yes! Daichi, Asahi, Noya, Tanaka, Yamaguchi, Yachi and me of course! We wanted to visit Hinata, so can we accompany you?" he asked smiling. I had to smile as well, I was happy that they cared so much about Hinata, and I thought Hinata would be happy to know that they came to visit him.

"Uhm, sure! Shall we go right now?" I asked in excitement.

"Ossu!" was their simultaneous answer while the stretched own arm skywards. Once again the Karasuno Volleyball Club felt more like a little family than solely a club. And that made me happy.


	4. Too much sun

On our way to the hospital they started asking me about lots of things concerning Hinata. I was happy that they wanted to know more about his conditions and if me telling them would make them visit Hinata more often on their own, then Hinata would be happier too, at least that's what I thought to myself.

When we arrived at the hospital and all of us had registered as Hinata's guests, I led them to his room and entered it as the first one.

"Hello Hinata, how you've been doing lately?" I said automatically without noticing that the others were still standing at the door. I was already so used to visit Hinata that I completely forgot about the others being there and went on to open the windows to let some fresh air in. While I did so I took off my jacket and put it on the chair. To the others it must've looked like a daily scene of someone returning home after a hard day of work, only that in my case I wasn't returning home.

"So you still don't wanna wake up, huh? I see, you really do like sleeping." I said with a giggle. And then suddenly I remembered the other guests I had left at the door and blushed because of my embarrassing act of forgetting them.

"Uhm, just come in…" I told them and they finally entered the room.

"Yo Hinataaaaa, long time no see!" Tanaka-senpai was the first one to say something.

"Hinata, today I brought some guests with me, how about waking up and greet them?" I said as I positioned my ear in front of his face to hear his breathing.

"I-is everything okay?" Suga-san asked worried.

"Yup, but he doesn't seem to be waking up any time soon now, sorry. Airhead!" I said with a smile while slightly kissing his left cheek. I only noticed what I had just done after I had done it, it was a reflex and I forgot about the others.

"Aaaawwwww you're both so cuuuute!" Yachi-san was almost crying.

"Hey hey, Kageyama!" Noya-senpai started talking.

"Yes?"

"Is there a switch or something to move Hinata's bed up and down? You know, like in the movies." he asked me with twinkling eyes.

"Ohh, you want to move him around? Nice idea, Noya!" Tanaka-senpai wanted to try it out too.

"I know right Ryuu?" Noya-senpai replied.

"Guys, behave yourselves. We're not here to cause any trouble." Daichi-san said.

"But…" both of them said at the same time.

"I said to _behave_ yourselves, guys. Are we clear?" Daichi-san's eyes were turning rather frightening and the two of them stopped asking.

"S-sorry Kageyama." Suga-san apologised.

"It's okay." I answered him.

"K-Kageyama-kun?" Yamaguchi wanted to ask me something.

"Hm?"

"So… so you don't know when he'll wake up, r-right?" he probably asked the thing everyone else wanted to know as well.

"No, sadly I don't. The doctors can't tell either, we'll just have to… wait. But I know, he'll wake up some time. And I'll be by his side when he does." I said as I sat down on a chair; everyone else had sat down already.

"Now that I look around, where's Asahi-san? I thought he'd come along?" I asked them.

"Yeah he ran away sneakily before we got here, hahaha!" Noya-senpai started laughing.

"H-he ran away?" I was confused.

"Yeah, he's scared of hospitals." he continued.

"What?"

"Apparently he suffered a traumatic incident with a scary nurse when he was a child, according to him. He's been scared of hospitals since then." Noya-senpai explained to us and Tanaka-senpai had to try his hardest not to start laughing.

"Oh Asahi…" Suga-san sighed.

"But he said he'll be the first one to greet Hinata as soon as he's out of here, so please forgive him." Noya-senpai said smiling.

"Thank you." I said and noticed how Tanaka-senpai was almost crying because he was holding in his laughter for far too long. But then suddenly Daichi-san slapped Tanaka-senpai's back of the head, telling him to shut up. I started laughing and then everyone joined me. After that we started talking about lots of various things and they all talked to Hinata once in a while too, it made me happy to see that I wasn't the only one.

"Kageyama, isn't there an air conditioner in here? It's quite hot today and I'm already starting to sweat and stuff." Tanaka-senpai said. He was right, it was a pretty hot day, the sun was shining more brightly then the past few days.

"Oh, sure. Let's close the window and turn it on." I said as I stood up and closed the window. Daichi-san had already turned it on when I sat back.

"Ahhh…" all of us said in unison.

"Hey Hinata, let's go to the beach, shall we?!" Noya-san turned to Hinata and asked out of nowhere.

"Beach would be great, yes." Suga-san agreed.

"This reminds me of when we all went to the beach together to play volleyball on the sand, hehe." Yamaguchi said with a smile.

"You… you all went to the beach once?" Yachi-san's eyes widened in excitement.

"Yes, we should do that again once Hinata's back." Daichi-san said.

"Ossu!" Tanaka-senpai and Noya-senpai said at the same time.

I still clearly remember the day when we went to the beach, it was a great day. Daichi-san just asked us all out of nowhere if we'd want to do a practise at the beach, on the sand. He had said that'd be an interesting additional training for all of us and we agreed instantly. And after talking to Coach Ukai and Takeda-sensei we got the permission and would go on a short trip the next weekend.

By that time Hinata and I were already a couple, and I remembered how I didn't get much sleep during the nights. I didn't know how he had felt, but I knew that I was nervous knowing that Hinata was sleeping in the same room as me.

We didn't practise a lot during that weekend, the Sunday was too hot to do any practises so we just spent the day on the beach, relaxing.

"The sun's shining very brightly today, make sure to use enough sun blocker!" Suga-san said.

"Ki-Kiyoko-san! D-d-do you need any sun blocker on your b-b-b-back? I can h-h-he-help you." Tanaka-senpai said nervously.

"I'll help-p-p t… too!" Noya-senpai said in the same way.

"I already asked an employee at the inn before I went outside, but thank you." Shimizu-san said with a smile. Tanaka-senpai and Noya-senpai seemed both sad and relieved at the same time.

Meanwhile I sat down underneath a sunshade and stared at the sea. Even though it wasn't my first time at the sea, I was still fascinated by the vast amount of water that was in front of us. After a while everyone went into the water; except for Noya-senpai and Tanaka-senpai who sat down next to me.

"Yooo, Kageyama." Noya-senpai started talking.

"What?"

This is the perfect opportunity to make a move on Hinata as soon as he's back from buying snacks, don't you think?"

"Wh-wh-what?!" I blushed.

"Yeah yeah, Noya is right! You know? The beach, the sun, hot weather." Tanaka was moving around his hands while explaining his vision to me.

"I… I'm not sure I can follow you."

"Oh come on Kageyama. You know! Like, put your arms around him and that kinda stuff."

"I… I see…" I did not.

"Oh look he's back! Go for it!" Tanaka-senpai said while winking with his left eye and showing me his thumbs up. I didn't really get what they wanted to tell me but when Hinata came nearer they ran away and jumped into the water as well.

"Hey, Kageyama, what were you talking about with them?" Hinata asked as he sat down next to me.

"N-nothing." I blushed slightly again and he noticed.

"Kageyama, are you okay? Your face is red. Do you need more sun blocker? I'll help you!" he said.

"N-no, it's okay!"

"But you're all red, maybe you need-"

"I said no, a-airhead!" I saw how Tanaka-senpai was waving at me and moving his arms as to signalize me what to do. I ignored him.

"You sure?" Hinata seemed worried.

"Y-yes. S-sorry." I became gloomy, I didn't want to discuss with him. And apparently he noticed because only moments later he hugged me.

"Sorry." he said while hugging me.

"A-airhead!" I said as I started blushing even more, but it made me happy. I heard how Tanaka-senpai and Noya-senpai were screaming in the distance for a while before Daichi-san hit them on their heads.

"Thank you for worrying about me, H-Hinata." I said and kissed him on his cheek. He turned red like a tomato all of a sudden.

We spent half of the day on the beach and after that we went back to the inn to eat lunch. Then we spent the rest of the day in the inn, playing card games and doing different things. After we had dinner, some of us entered the hot spring for a while, but I was rather exhausted so I just went back to our room and lied down on my futon.

I didn't notice how I fell asleep, but when I woke up again I noticed that Hinata was lying next to me, sleeping. I wanted to quickly move away, but then I noticed how he had put his arms around of me. I didn't know if it was intentionally or not, but I kind of liked the feeling of Hinata's warmth, it let me feel at ease. I reconsidered and put my arms around of him as well.

"Good night, Hinata." I whispered while kissing his forehead and then I closed my eyes.

"Oi, Kageyama! Are you daydreaming?!" Tanaka-senpai's call pulled me from my thoughts of when we went to the beach and I was back in the hospital room.

"Oh, sorry. I was lost in thought." I said.

"Were you exposed to too much sun or something?" he asked.

"Haha, yes. I guess you could call him that." I said laughing while looking at the sleeping Hinata.

"It's already late, we should get going." Daichi-san said.

"Oh you're right, we should go." Suga-san added.

"Oh, it really is. But I'll stay a bit longer with Hinata." I said as I stood up.

"Okay then, bye you two! See you tomorrow, Kageyama." Daichi-san said.

"Ossu! And thank you all for coming, I really appreciate it." I replied to him and bowed down to everyone. They only replied with their warm smiles as they left the room. It were only Hinata and me again.

"Hey airhead, still not feeling like waking up, huh? Figures." I said while holding his hand.

"Please… please wake up, Hinata." I said as a tear fell down my face. Suddenly I heard the door being opened again and I turned around, only to see how Yachi-san was standing at the door.

"I… forgot… my, my bag. A-are you okay, Kageyama-kun?" she asked as she approached me. I quickly dried away my tears.

"O-ossu! Of… of course…" I tried to remain strong.

"Say, Kageyama-kun!"

"Yes?"

"Whatever'll happen, I'll support the two of you!" her eyes became big and shiny like the sun.

"H-huh?"

"I'll help you whenever I can! I want you _and_ Hinata-kun to be happy! Okay?! So, let me help, Kageyama-kun!" she was standing in front of me and holding my hands. Tears started forming in my eyes again.

"You're all too bright, everyone is shining like a sun. I don't deserve that much sun."

"Wrong! You do! There's no shadow without the sun, so take care of your beloved sun! Okay, Kageyama-kun?" Yachi-san said with a big smile. I didn't know what to answer and couldn't help but hug her.

"Thank you, Yachi-san. I will! I will!" I said while tears were flowing down my cheeks.

After I had calmed down Yachi-san took her bag and left the room again. I was thankful for her and for everyone else, I was glad to have met them.

The sun had almost set when I looked out of the window. I sat down on Hinata's bed and grabbed one of his hands with mine.

"There's no shadow without the sun, huh?" I said while holding his hand tighter and tighter. I looked at Hinata, I still had teary eyes; but I was happy.

"Look at what you've done to me, airhead."


	5. Togetherness

"Kageyama-san, if you should decide to take a nap after all, don't hesitate to use the bed in the room next door to this one, okay?" a nurse said to me as I sat down on a chair next to Hinata's bed. I had decided to stay at the hospital with Hinata for a weekend, Saturday and Sunday. They told me it wouldn't pose a problem if I did and even offered me to use a room next to Hinata's room. But because I wanted to spend all the time with him, I had been sleeping the entire morning on Saturday as to not fall asleep during night, I went to the hospital at around three o'clock in the afternoon. I took a bag with me, filled with things I could need during my stay there.

"Alright, thank you very much." I said as I bowed down when the nurse left the room. I sat back on the chair and grabbed Hinata's hand.

"Hey there, I'm back. And guess what, I'll be spending the night with you, how about you thank me, huh? I won't be able to sleep in my comfortable bed tonight, and I'm only doing this for you, show some gratitude at least, won't you?" I said while looking at his sleeping face, but he didn't answer, as expected. I sighed.

"I guess today isn't the day either, huh?" I stood up and kissed him on his left cheek.

"Well then, I took my homework with me, I can't neglect that, can I?" I said as I took a book out of my back and started doing my homework. I could've done them already on Friday, but I guessed it wouldn't be bad to have something to do while being at Hinata's side.

"Hinata, are you familiar with this math problem?" I was waiting for a reply.

"Yeah, of course _you_ wouldn't know." I said and started laughing a bit, even if it may have seemed weird for other people, I wanted to treat him like I did before the accident happened.

"Hey Hinata, this reminds me of that one time, remember? The first time I stayed overnight at your house." I started remembering that one weekend.

It was when we once got a huge pile of homework to do during the weekend, given to us by a supply teacher, the entire class complained but we couldn't change it anyway. And because some of the subjects we were assigned to do weren't exactly what you'd call Hinata's forte, he asked me if I wanted to study with him and I agreed. At the end he invited me to stay overnight on Saturday so that we could study as much as we needed to. He told me to come at around ten in the morning.

And at ten past ten on the next day I was standing in front of Hinata's house, carrying my little bag with what I'd need for the next one and a half days. He was already standing outside, waiting for me. The odd thing was, his mother and little sister were leaving the house as well, Haruka-san pulling a trolley case behind of her.

"Soooooorry Kageyama, I completely forgot that mom and Natsu had planned to spend the weekend at a hot-springs resort." Hinata said.

"It's girls time!" Natsu said with a smile as I approached them.

"Really? Sounds awesome!" I said as I patted her head.

"I'm sorry about this Kageyama-kun, but it's already reserved and-" Hinata's mother wanted to apologize.

"Don't worry Haruka-san, we can manage." I said.

"But, what about food?" that was apparently Hinata's only worry.

"If it's that, I can make some meals." I said with a grin, facing Hinata. He was visibly surprised.

"Oh then it's even better, Shouyou won't have to eat junk food the entire time. Thank you a lot Kageyama-kun." Haruka-san seemed to be relieved.

"Uhm… well okay then." Hinata said finally and I positioned myself next to him to see them off.

"Take care of your mom, Natsu, okay?" I said as I saluted to Natsu.

"I will!" she answered while saluting as well.

"Okay then bye you two." Hinata already opened the door to enter the house.

"Take care you two, and don't rush things, you love birdies." Haruka-san said suddenly with a laugh. I couldn't help but blush.

"M-Mom!" Hinata blushed as well, yelling at his mother.

"Bye bye, love you." she said at last.

"Moooom, what are love birdies?" I heard Natsu asking her mother before Hinata closed the door. The two of us were alone for the weekend and had an entire house for ourselves. We were standing in front of the door, neither of us moving. We probably were both thinking about what Haruka-san had just mentioned, our faces still red. We remained like that for a while until Hinata broke the silence.

"K-Kageyama, shall we start studying until it's time for lunch?" he asked slightly nervous.

"O-ossu!"

"Okay, so… uhm, let's sit down in the living room." he said and we started walking there. We both placed our homework on the table and started studying.

Hinata kept on asking me about every little thing he didn't understand and I tried my best to help him. We were that focused on actually doing our homework, that we didn't notice it had almost turned 1pm. Only when Hinata's stomach rumbled we looked at the time.

"Ahhhh, it's way past lunch time, what do we do now Kageyama?!" he was slightly too agitated about it.

"No big deal, I'll make us lunch, what do you want?" I said as I stood up and went into the kitchen.

"Tamago kake gohan!" he said with sparkling eyes.

"What? Isn't that a breakfast dish?"

"You can eat whatever you want whenever you want." he said while nodding.

"Okay then, and it's easy to make." and started looking around the kitchen for needed ingredients. After having found them I started cooking. Hinata seemed to be nervous about something, but I had no idea why, and since it didn't bother me and my cooking I ignored it and didn't ask further questions.

"Thanks for the meal!" he said after I had put down the dishes on the table; cooking didn't take that long, it was a very simple meal. He then stuffed his mouth with rice and his eyes started sparkling again.

"And?" I asked as I started eating as well.

"It'sh amashing Kageyama, I-"

"Don't talk while eating, airhead!" I said. He gulped down what was in his mouth and started talking again.

"It's amazing Kageyama, I really like it. I didn't know you were a good cook. I love you-yo-y… y-your c-cooking!" he stuttered. I started coughing because I didn't expect him to say anything like that and as a result the rice wanted to go down the wrong pipe.

"Ah, water! Water! Drink something!" Hinata panicked, handed me a glass of water and I drank it completely.

"A-airhead!" I said after being able to breathe normally again.

"S-sorry…" he said and continued eating. We were both blushing and didn't say a word during the entire meal.

After we had finished we both washed the dishes and then we continued studying. And while studying we didn't talk either, we were still embarrassed about what had happened before. Which was completely childish and still I don't know why we were like that. After roughly an hour we were done and Hinata sighed.

"Fiiiiiiinally, I thought this'll go one forever, but gladly we're done now, right?" he smiled at me.

"Yes, it went a lot faster than I expected. But what should we do now?" I said as I packed my stuff back into my bag.

"Uhm… It's pretty hot today, isn't it?"

"Rather sunny, yes."

"Want some ice?"

"Sure, why not." I said and he jumped up. When he got to the kitchen I heard him yelling.

"Aww, Kageyama! We're out of ice! I'll go buy some so just wait, okay? I'll be right back!" he said and the next thing I heard was a door being shut. He just left me all alone in his house while he went out to buy ice.

I sat down on the couch and waited. I didn't know what to do while waiting, so I just did nothing. But doing nothing became boring quickly and I started looking around the room. I noticed some photographs standing on a shelf and it caught my attention. I stood up and approached the shelf, wanting to look at the photographs more closely. They seemed to be photographs of Hinata's family. Hinata was on almost all of them, always smiling and grinning like the idiot he was. Quite a few seemed to be from about ten years ago, as there was a man on them too. I knew from the picture on the family altar that it was his father. Hinata looked even cuter as a kid, but otherwise he didn't change much. Obviously he didn't even grow that much either, thinking about that made me laugh. I looked at more photographs of him and his father. He seemed to have been a nice and cool father. I noticed that there was only one picture of the entire family. It was one where the father was holding Natsu in his arms. She looked like she was only a few months old when the picture was taken. And Hinata and Haruka-san where standing next to them, it looked like a precious memory. I wondered if there wasn't any other photographs with Natsu and her father, but before I could look around more, I heard the door again.

"I'm back!" Hinata said.

"Welcome home." I said without thinking about it twice. I only realized afterwards that I wasn't home.

"Did you say something?" he asked me when entering the living room. He didn't hear me saying that, apparently.

"N-no. Nothing."

"Okay. Here's your ice." he said.

"Thanks." I took the ice and sat down on the couch, Hinata sat down next to me.

"Wanna watch stuff on TV?"

"Sure." I said while taking a bite from my ice. Hinata shivered.

"You're the type that bites his ice? How can you do that?" he asked me as if I did the most impossible thing he could think of.

"Yeah, if it takes too long it starts melting."

"I can't do that, I can't bite ice."

"Cute." I said giggling. I only noticed what I had said after I saw him blushing. I blushed to and he turned on the TV, both silently eating ice and watching TV. That's how we spent our afternoon.

After I had made dinner and we ate it, Hinata said he'd take a bath and that I could take one after him. After half an hour he came back, still drying his hair with a towel.

"You can use it now." he said as he sat down on the couch again and turned the TV. I walked up the stairs and entered the bathroom.

After I took the bath and wanted to put on my pyjamas, I noticed I had forgotten them in my bag. And that bag was still in the living room. I had no choice but to wrap a towel around my hip and walk down to get it. I opened the door of the bathroom and walked down the stairs and then towards the living room.

"Sorry Hinata, I forgot my p-" when I bowed down to grab my bag, my body froze.

I was standing in Hinata's living room, only wearing a towel.

I heard a muffled sound, and when I looked up and faced the couch, I saw that Hinata had dropped the remote control on the floor. He was staring at me, mouth wide open and face turned red. After standing there for a few more seconds, I finally began moving again and slowly walked away, climbed the stairs again and entered the bathroom. I tried not to think about what had just happened.

After I finished I went downstairs again.

"Haha… ha…" I said while I sat down next to Hinata.

"D-do you wanna watch a movie?" Hinata asked. As I expected, he didn't want to talk about it either.

"Uhm, s-sure. Something good on TV?" I asked him.

"No idea, let's just watch the first one we find."

"Okay." I said and he started zapping until he found a channel on which a movie seemed to just have started.

After 15 minutes of watching the movie and still not knowing what it was about I tried asking Hinata.

"Do you know what this movie is about?"

"No clue." he answered.

"Cool, me neither." I said and we continued watching. After another while Hinata was the one asking me something about the movie.

"Wait, why did he just do that? That made no sense at all." he said.

"Maybe… there was one? I mean… uhm, I still don't really know what the plot is about." I explained.

"Well true, but still."

"Hmm…"

We continued watching and tried to understand what the movie was trying to tell us. After about an hour I turned to him just to see him sleeping, he fell asleep.

"H-hinata?" I poked his shoulder. I expected him to wake up, but to the contrary, he kept on sleeping and fell down on me, leaning onto my shoulder. I startled and didn't know how to react, but in the end I just let it be. I put my hand on his head and tried petting through his hair. I didn't want to wake him up, so I did it as cautiously as I could.

"Fluffy." I whispered with a smile. I continued watching the movie, but after a while I fell asleep too. When I woke up again it was already past midnight. I turned off the TV and wanted to get up, but then I noticed that I was lying on the couch and Hinata was lying on top of me, still sleeping calmly. I put my hands around him and closed my eyes again.

"Good night, Hinata." I whispered and then fell asleep shortly afterwards.

"Remember how our backs hurt the other day because we slept on the couch? We promised ourselves to never sleep on the couch again. Oh and now that I think about it, wasn't that movie a sequel? No wonder we didn't understand anything." I said and started laughing while holding Hinata's hand.

I looked out of the window of his hospital room.

"The sun's setting already, huh…" I said as I stood up.

"I'll go get ready for the night, okay?" I said as I kissed him on his cheek and left his room.

When I was walking around the hospital in search of a bathroom I did not know yet that the next few hours would become the worst time of my life.


	6. Sudden nightfall

When I got back to Hinata's room the sun had already set. I sat down next to him and grabbed his hand again. I wanted to try stay awake for as long as I could; even if it meant I'd be getting less sleep, I didn't mind.

"Say Hinata, seeing you sleeping like this… you really do like sleeping a lot, don't you?" I started talking.

"I remember that one time when we had a big exam coming you pulled some all-nighters and ended up falling asleep even during club practice. Suga-san scolded you for not taking proper care of your sleeping patterns." I laughed when I thought back.

It was a day like any other and we had club practice. Nothing seemed off until Hinata fell asleep while we were taking a break.

"Hinata! Are you sleeping?!" Suga-san asked.

"O-one more time!" Hinata woke up and blurted out what he thought of first.

"Hinata, are you sleeping properly?"

"I, uhm, yes… Kinda… not really… sir." Hinata was looking down.

"Suga, don't be like that. He probably has a reason, there were exams and…" Daichi-san tried to help Hinata.

"Da-i-chi. I know normally I'm the one on their side, but in these times they need to learn that it's important to manage both studies and private life!"

"S-sure, Suga, but…"

"No buts! And what's wrong with you? Normally you're the evil cop!" Suga-san was now discussing with Daichi-san.

"Dai-san and Suga-san look like a married couple, don't they?" Tanaka-senpai whispered to Noya-san.

"They do." Noya-san said.

"I can hear you!" Suga-san turned around to them.

"W-well, why don't we go get something to drink, okay?" Daichi-san was trying to lead him outside. Suga-san didn't stop talking, but Daichi-san just kept on pulling him outside of the gym. When they got outside, Daichi-san entered quickly again.

"Continue practice, I don't know what's wrong with Suga, I'll try calming him down." he said and immediately ran outside again.

"What was that?" Tanaka-senpai asked confused.

"Asahiiiii! Lemme receive some of your spikes please!" Noya-san yelled at Asahi-san.

"O-okay!" Asahi-san replied.

"Hinata, are you really okay?" I asked.

"S-sure. I mean, I guess… it's my own fault for not studying properly before, so I have no other choice but to pull all-nighters." he answered with a grin.

"You know that's not healthy, right?"

"I know. I know. I'm sorry." he stopped smiling.

"Just know that we're worried. And if you need help, I'm sure Suga-san and the others could help with studying. I-I mean, I would like to help too, but… since I'm not the smartest either, I just…" I looked away as I said that.

"Thanks, Kageyama!" he smiled at me.

"A-Airhead! Let's continue practice!" I blushed and got back on court.

"Let's go, one more time!" Hinata said and we resumed practice.

After practice finished Hinata quickly got home, saying he'd want to study some more for the exam on the next day. When I got home I couldn't help but think of him. I was worried if he'd be staying awake all night again. I kind of understood his reasoning, but at the same time I was worried about his wellbeing. I decided to call him once before I went to bed and hear how he was doing.

"Hey, do you want something?" Hinata had picked up the phone right after it rang one time. I sat down on my bed and started asking him.

"Sorry if I'm bothering you right now." I said.

"Ah, no. Don't worry, I was just looking through some exercises for tomorrow's exam. What is it?"

"Nothing in particular, I just wanted to know how you're doing and-"

"Kageyama, can it be that you're worried about me? That'd be something new." I heard him start laughing.

"Sh-shut up, I don't need to hear that from you! A-And what if I am, huh?!" I lied down on my bed, letting my head hang down from the bed and looking at my room upside down.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I was just… surprised." he stopped laughing.

"Surprised?"

"Yeah, like… y-you see… you saying that you're worried, it's kind of… the first time that you're showing your feelings in that kinda way and…" he stopped for a moment.

"…and?"

"…and that makes me… happy." after he said that, none of us said anything for some time. After a while of awkward silence, I finally answered.

"I-I…" at least I tried to answer.

"S-sorry to blurt out something like that all of a sudden, I just felt like letting you know."

"N-no, it's… okay."

"O-okay."

"…s-so, make sure you try to sleep tonight, okay?" I tried to change the subject.

"Y-yes, I will. Don't worry. I'll read the text one more time and then I'll head to bed." he explained.

"Alright. Well then, I'll… go to bed now."

"Okay."

"Good night, Hinata."

"Night, Kageyama. And thank you for being there for me." he said and the phone call ended. I stood up, put my phone away, turned off the lights, lied back down on my bed and buried my face in my pillow. While thinking about how cute Hinata was I slowly fell asleep. When I woke up the next morning, I quickly got ready and left straight for school. When I entered the classroom, Hinata was already sitting at his desk and ready for the exam we would write first thing in the morning.

"Morning Hinata." I said as I approached him.

"Morning!" he looked well rested.

"Everything's good?" I asked.

"Yes! I slept for 5 yours!" he said proudly.

"That's not that much."

"It's better than not sleeping at all."

"True, but still not good."

"You won't even praise me?"

"You'll get a reward after you go back to having a more normal sleep pattern." I said while heading to my desk and sitting down.

"Alright!" Hinata looked high spirited.

Our teacher entered the classroom only a few minutes later and without talking much, he gave us the exam sheets and we started solving it.

"Alright, time's up. Stop writing." our teacher said right after the bells rang. I turned around and caught a glimpse of Hinata, but I couldn't see how he was doing as he had his head buried underneath his arms; like always after an exam. I handed my sheets to the girl collecting the exams, stood up and approached Hinata's desk.

"Hinata, how did you do?" I asked, but he didn't answer.

"Hinata?" I put my hand on his shoulder, but he still didn't answer.

"Oi, Hinata! Wake up!" I shook his shoulders, but he still didn't move.

"Sensei, Hinata is asle-" I turned my head to the front of the room and noticed that the teacher wasn't standing there anymore.

"Huh?" I turned around again and saw that the other students were gone as well, Hinata and I were the only one left in the room. As soon as I realized that, the blinds lowered on their own and the lights turned off. The room was pitch black and not a sound was to be heard.

"Hinata! Hinata, wake up!" I turned back to him and tried to wake him up, but he didn't move. But before I could do anything else, I heard a beeping sound and I woke up from the dream.

I was sitting on a chair next to Hinata's bed, I must had fallen asleep while thinking of the past. The beeping sound came from the machine Hinata was plugged to and it got louder and louder.

"H-Hinata! Hinata, what's wrong?!" I stood up in a panic, not knowing what was happening, not knowing what I was supposed to do.

"N-no! What is happening, someone… someone… I need to…" I tried focusing my thoughts but the panic was stronger. At the same time the door to Hinata's room opened and a nurse entered.

"S-sorry, but… this just started…" I pointed at the machine as the nurse approached us. As soon as she saw what was happening, her eyes widened and grabbed a phone-like gadget hanging from her hips.

"Calling Dr Hashigami to room 201, it's an emergency!" she yelled into the gadget.

"Wh-what? E-emergency?! What is…" I didn't understand.

"Please get away from the patient, sir." she told me as she got in between of Hinata and me.

"H-huh?! Wait, why?! I…" but before I could say anything else, two other people came running into the room. A third one dragged me out of the room.

"No, don't! Hinata! Hinataaaa!" I screamed but he didn't let go of me. As soon as we were out of the room, the door was locked and the person dragging me let go of me. I knocked on the door, screaming to let me in and be with Hinata, but no one was listening to me. And then without realizing it, I fell down on my knees and lost consciousness.

When I opened my eyes I was lying on a bed in an unknown room. I turned to my left to be surprised by a face staring at me.

"To-chan!" Natsu said with a loud voice.

"N-Natsu? Where…" I sat up and noticed Haruka-san sitting on a chair.

"Oh thank goodness you're okay, Kageyama-kun." Haruka-san stood up and approached me.

"Haruka-san, what…"

"You were sleeping when I arrived last night. The nurse called me yesterday and told me about what happened. Apparently you fell unconscious because of a shock, and…" Haruka-san was talking but I wasn't really paying attention to her. I turned to the other side and looked out of a window, the sun was shining. And suddenly I remembered everything again.

"H-Hinata!" I wanted to get up from the bed but Haruka-san stopped me.

"N-no, please, you must rest, Kageyama-kun. Everything's okay. It's true, there was a problem with Shouyou, but… they told me everything will be fine. S-so…" she tried her best to remain calm, but I could see that she was worried sick too. I took a deep breath and calmed down.

"You okay again, To-chan?" Natsu looked up.

"Y-yes, thank you, Natsu." I patted her head and she smiled. Only seconds later, someone else opened the door and entered.

"Ah, this is where you were, Hinata-san." a man said to Haruka-san.

"Oh and it seems you've awoken too, that's good." he said to me when he saw I was sitting on the bed.

"I-is everything alright?" Haruka-san asked.

"I've come to tell you something about your son's condition." he continued.

"Y-yes?"

"I have good news, your son has woken up from the coma. Right now he's sleeping, he needs to rest, so you can't see him right now. But rest reassured, everything's okay now. You have a brave son, Hinata-san." he explained with a smile. Tears started falling down Haruka-san's cheeks as she covered her mouth with her hands.

"…H-Hinata…" I said silently.

"I will let you know when he wakes up. After we do some smaller check-ups, you can go talk to him again, is that okay?" he asked. Haruka-san was overjoyed and couldn't say anything, so she only nodded. The doctor nodded as well and left the room again. Haruka-san approached Natsu and hugged her with all her might.

"Natsu… Natsu! You're brother… is…"

"Mom, why are you crying?"

"I'm happy, Natsu. I'm so… so happy." she said. The rising sun shining through the window blinded me. I raised my right hand and stretched it towards the window, observing the rays of light that shone through my fingers. I noticed how tears started flowing down my cheeks. I covered my face with the blanket and continued crying happy tears.

After some time passed and a nurse did some check-ups on me I was allowed to leave the bed. I apologized for the problem I had caused with my behaviour the day before and Haruka-san, Natsu and me went to the hospital's cafeteria to get sth warm to drink. We were only waiting for the doctor to come tell us that we could see Hinata again. And after roughly an hour, he finally appeared and told us that Hinata was awake, doing fine and having a huge appetite. We stood up and quickly walked to Hinata's room. I opened the door and rushed inside.

"Hinata-kun, you've got visitors." a nurse that was handing a tray of food to him said. Hinata was sitting up on the bed, still plugged to some machines, but awake. He was awake and had his mouth stuffed with food and was looking at me. I stared back and tears started forming in my eyes once again.

"…H-Hinata." I said with a weak voice. He swallowed whatever he was eating, drank a bit from a glass of water and finally started talking.

"Uhm… excuse me, but…" he stopped. At the same time, it felt like my heart had stopped beating for what felt like an eternity. But Hinata continued talking.

"…who are you?"


	7. Never-ending night

As soon as I heard those words I stopped running and froze.

"Sho-chan!" Natsu came running after me and rushed to Hinata.

"Natsu!" he exclaimed happily.

"Oh Shouyou…" Haruka-san said and hugged her son.

"M-mom, what is it? You're suffocating me!"

"I'm just so happy, Shouyou."

"Huh?" Hinata seemed confused.

"Don't you remember what happened?" she asked him.

"N-no. I wanted to ask, but they told me to rest first before doing anything and I just…" Hinata looked around the room and finally faced me again. I was still not moving from those words he said before. Was he joking with me? What did he mean by that?

"M-mom, do you know who that guy is?" he asked. I felt as if someone was holding my heart in their hand and trying to squash it with all their might. I felt a stinging pain in my chest, but I still wasn't able to move.

"Sh-shouyou? What are you saying? That's Kageyama-kun, he's your…"

"Kageyama-kun? I don't know anyone by that name though." I put my hand on my chest and tightly grabbed my shirt. The pain was growing stronger by the second. It felt as if I was about to suffocate; it was a horrible feeling, I wanted it to stop.

"Shouyou…" Haruka-san didn't know how to explain it to him. She turned around, looking at me with a sad expression. I wonder how I was looking at that moment. I took a deep breath and approached Hinata's bed.

"H-Hinata…" I stopped.

"Y-yes?" he looked at me with a confused face.

"…yes, I'm… Kageyama. And I'm your… your team mate." words I didn't want to say spilled out of my mouth; words I wanted to say were stuck in my throat.

"Team mate?"

"Y-yes. We're in the same class and we both are part of a volleyball team. Do you… do you remember that?" I had no control over what I was saying.

"No… I don't. I, I want to. But I just… can't remember anything else at the moment." he answered.

"I see… I'm…"

"Kageyama-kun, why do you-" Haruka-san wanted to ask me something.

"I'm sorry, Haruka-san. I'm… I need some time for myself, please excuse me." I closed my eyes, turned around and headed towards the door.

"Kageyama-kun, where are you going?" I heard Hinata ask. I stopped and answered without turning around to him. I didn't want him to see my tears.

"Oh, I'm… just gonna let the others of our team know. We were all worried about you, you see." I tried to sound as normal as possible.

"Oh, okay. Thank you."

"No… problem."

"And thank you for being here when I woke up, I hope I can remember you soon, Kageyama-kun." Hinata said happily. Every word of that sentence was like a knife being stabbed through my chest.

"S-sure…" I said and left the room. Tears were flowing down my cheeks while I was looking for a place to sit down and cry. I had never felt that miserable, I didn't know how to face him again. After all that time he had finally woken up again, but he couldn't remember me. He couldn't remember anything besides his family.

"I thought we were like family too… idiot." I whispered to myself as I covered my eyes with my hands and continued crying. After a while I calmed down a bit and texted the others, just as I said I would. I told them about his memory loss too. I didn't wait for an answer, I didn't want to read their reactions. I had no powers left to go back to Hinata's room, and I probably looked awful after all the tears I cried. I decided to text Haruka-san and tell Hinata that I had to go home and that I'll meet him another day. After clicking on the send button I quickly put away my phone, stood up and started walking down the hospital corridors. I just wanted to get home and lie down on my bed. But just when I was about to leave through the hospital's entrance door, I heard a familiar voice behind of me.

"Kageyama!" Hinata screamed with all his might. I turned around and saw him standing there.

"H-Hinata?! Why are you here? Shouldn't you rest in bed? Why did you-"

"Is it true that you're my boyfriend?!" he looked at me with serious eyes.

"Wh-what… how…"

"Natsu told me. She asked me why To-chan walked away while crying, even though he was the one waiting for my awakening the most because he really loves me. Is it true?!" his expression didn't change. The people standing around of us were observing this rather weird scene.

"I… I'm…" I didn't know what to say.

"W-well? It's not like I was expecting something like that, y-you know." he said. I saw how he was slightly blushing and then I suddenly noticed what was happening. He had run all the way down here, only wearing that hospital robe, screaming through the entrance hall, people staring at him. He was probably the most confused one, probably the most nervous one and probably the most courageous one. Unlike me who was trying to run away from reality instead of facing it. I was ashamed of myself for not speaking the truth earlier.

"…it's true." I said.

"…o-oh." he was surprised.

"Yeah, I thought… you'd react like that." I looked at him.

"Kageyama, I-"

"Hinata-san! What do you think you're doing?! Go back to your room at once!" a nurse that appeared from a corridor yelled at him.

"Crap…" Hinata turned around.

"Hinata-san, do I have to take you there?!"

"O-one minute, I'm sorry. K-Kageyama, can I call you tonight?" he asked.

"Wh-what? Why?" I was confused.

"Please, I have so many things I want to ask!"

"Hi-na-ta-san!" the nurse was getting angry and slowly approached him.

"Kageyama!"

"…f-fine! I have to go now!" I turned around and walked away.

"Thanks, Kageyama!"

"Hinata-san! Room! Now!"

"O-owww, okay okay. Please don't pull me from my ear. I'm a patient, right?"

"And where are patients supposed to be until they're told they're free to leave?!"

"…in their room." was the last thing I heard before the sliding doors closed. While on my way home I thought about what Hinata said. What things did he want to ask? What could he possibly want to talk about? I kept on asking myself more questions until I arrived home. I went straight to my room, lied down on my bed and closed my eyes. I didn't fall asleep, I was just lying there thinking about different things. I was thinking about the fact that Hinata had finally woken up. Thinking about all the things I wanted to tell him as soon as he woke up. About all the things I wanted to do as soon as he'd be able to leave the hospital again. But all those things were shattered in less than a split second. All my plans, wishes and hopes had vanished into thin air. I had been waiting for my sun to shine again, but instead I was still trapped inside a never-ending night. Hinata didn't know about me. He didn't know about all the things we had experienced together, about the times we spent together. It was just gone.

When I woke up it had already turned dark outside. Apparently I didn't notice how I fell asleep while thinking about all those things. I grabbed my phone, it was 9pm. I just wanted to stay in bed and fall asleep again, but my growling stomach was asking for food. I stood up slowly and just as I stretched out my hand to open my door I heard my phone ringing. I took a look at the screen and saw that the one calling was Hinata; like he had said earlier. I sighed, sat down on my bed and answered the phone.

"Hello?" I acted as if I didn't see who had called.

"K-Kageyama, it's me."

"Oh, Hinata. How… how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, I got scolded because I left the bed without their permission."

"Well what did you expect?"

"Hey I don't feel like I need to rest. I feel super fit."

"Of course you would, you're always full of energy, idiot." I chuckled unintentionally.

"I am?"

"Oh, right… I'm… I'm sorry, I didn't want to-"

"It's okay. That's… actually why I called you."

"Why?"

"Because I want you tell to tell me things about myself. There's almost nothing I remember."

"So you just want me to talk about you?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"…yes." he hesitated for a while.

"…okay then." I sighed.

"Thank you."

"What do you want to know?"

"I don't know, as much as possible."

"Well… as I said already, we're both in the volleyball team at our school."

"Volleyball, huh? What position do you play?"

"I'm the setter."

"And I am?"

"A middle blocker."

"Even though I'm so short?!" he was surprised.

"Yes."

"Awesome."

"Idiot." I started laughing.

"You call me idiot quite a lot."

"I'm sorry, it is… it was a habit."

"So we really…"

"Yes."

"You know, it's not that easy if you get told that you forgot the person you like."

"Yeah, and of all things it's another guy and-"

"Oh that's not the problem at all, Kageyama."

"H-huh?"

"Well, you see… uh… how do I put this… do you…" he took a break.

"Do I what?"

"…do you still l-lov-"

"I do. I always did and always will, Hinata." I didn't hesitate. After that we remained silent for a few seconds, but then he started talking again.

"A-as I thought, it feels weird. And…"

"I'm sorr-"

"No! No, don't be. I mean… I can't really explain it, but… hearing that makes me somehow happy. But I just can't remember a thing, and… I think I don't like it. It feels like the _me_ before the accident and… oh right, mom told me how this happened in the first place. She told me after you left, about everything that had happened. Anyways, what I was saying, it feels like that _me_ and the _me_ right now are two different people. So I don't know how to feel about this entire thing, it's like… maybe I feel I don't deserve this. As if I stole the other Hinata's identity and am using it for my own sake right now. Ah I don't know how to explain it."

"…"

"Kageyama?" he asked but I didn't know what to say. I realized what he had been thinking about all this time only after he told me directly. So many things had been going through his mind.

"S-sorry, I was lost in thought."

"What were you thinking about?"

"About you."

"…o-oh."

"You probably don't know, but… since the day you fell in the coma I've visited you almost every day. I never lost hope that you would someday wake up again, and when that day came I wanted to be by your side. I wanted to be the first person you'd see when opening your eyes. Guess my plan didn't work out well, huh?"

"Kageyama…"

"Whenever I visited you, I would think about things we had experienced together. I would always talk to you, even though you probably didn't hear anything of that, I guess. There were times when our entire team came to visit you at the same time. The room was almost too small for everyone to fit in, but it was always lively. They were all worried about you, but they knew that you'd wake up sooner or later. They said the future ace of Karasuno had to wake up soon if he wanted to claim that title."

"…Kageyama, I…"

"…I love you, Hinata."

"…"

"More than anyone else in the entire world. And I want you to remember me."

"I'm…"

"And I don't think you're different than the other _you_ as you call him. Even after this short while of being awake again, you've been the very same idiot as before. And you've showed me once again why I love you." I tried to hold back my tears.

"…Kageyama, I just…"

"I'm sorry, it's… it's late, I should probably stop talking."

"…I understand."

"I should… go to bed, I've got school tomorrow, and…"

"It's okay. Thank you for letting me talk to you and… thanks for telling me a bit about myself. I really appreciate it."

"It's… no problem. Well then…"

"Yeah I should get some sleep too, although I think I've wasted enough time sleeping for a while, haha."

"Yeah, probably." I smiled while tears were flowing down my face.

"Okay. Then…"

"Goodnight, Hinata."

"…th-tha…"

"Hm?"

"…thank you for still loving me. Goodnight, Kageyama." he said and hung up. I put my phone on my desk and fell down on my bed again. My smile faded and I buried my crying face in my pillow. After I calmed down, I looked out of my window. It was a clear, cloudless night. I could see the waning moon and the stars in sky. I gazed at the night sky and wished upon a star.

"Please let the sun shine tomorrow again."


	8. Heat haze

When I woke up I first thought that everything had been a bad dream. I tried to convince myself of the fact that I had been living in a nightmare for the last few months. I told myself that if I'd go to school I'd just meet with Hinata and everything would be like it was before, like nothing had happened at all. But when I looked at my phone I saw that it had been indeed real.

"G-good morning, Kageyama. Uhm… say, could you, like, you know, help me around school and stuff? They told me I got better faster than expected, probably because I have too much energy. And they said I could leave the hospital after a few more check-ups, so I can attend school in the afternoon. I'd really appreciate your help, thanks." Hinata had texted me. He was right, since he forgot about those things as well, he'd need someone to help him, and the only one he knew was me; not that he actually _knew_ me.

I got to school like I always did, entered the classroom and sat down on my desk. There was still some time until homeroom started so I decided to answer Hinata's text. Just as I was about to lie down on my desk after texting him, I heard a loud voice.

"Ossu! Is Kageyama here?" it was Noya-san's loud voice.

"Uh… uhm, y-yes." a girl from my class was standing next to the door and answered him with a flustered voice.

"Thanks! Pardon the intrusion then!" Noya-san said.

"Yeah, thanks!" Tanaka-senpai suddenly said.

"Yo, Kageyama!" they both said.

"Good morning, may I ask why you're here so early?" I asked.

"Just seeing how you're doing, and…" Noya-san stopped.

"The thing with Hinata is really… uh…" Tanaka-senpai tried to find the right words to say.

"It's… okay, it'll work out somehow. You know him too." I answered, not believing my own words.

"Well if you say so…" Tanaka-senpai wasn't convinced.

"Well then! Cheer up!" Noya-san slapped me on the back and started laughing.

"I-I will, thank you." I forced a smile.

"Whoops, we need to get going now! Bye Kageyama, see you after school in club practice." Noya-san yelled as he rushed out of the classroom.

"Uhm… later." Tanaka-senpai followed him. Everyone in class was gazing after those two, loud upperclassmen, leaving the room and running through the corridors even though it was prohibited to. I lied down on my desk and waited until the teacher arrived and started homeroom.

Before I noticed it was lunch break already. Since I didn't bring anything for lunch I headed straight to the cafeteria. I got to choose between various kinds of ramen, katsudon and curry. I went with ramen and sat down at a table with no one else, I didn't feel like interacting with anyone. It was like I didn't want to deal with anyone and I already knew why. I was still thinking about what Hinata and I talked about on the phone last night. And I also already knew how things would continue from now on. He would either want to start from scratch once again or just give up on this whole _we_ idea. The worst thing was, I probably had no right to stop him. If he felt like he wasn't the _same_ Hinata as before, what could I possibly do to change that? I didn't want to force anything so he'd end up avoiding me, instead of getting close to me. I just didn't know what to do or say or think; my mind was a complete mess.

I lost my appetite after I ate half of the bowl, stopped eating and shoved the tray to my right so I could rest my head on the table.

"Ka-kageyama-kun!" I heard a familiar voice. I looked up and saw Yachi and Yamaguchi standing in front of me, both of them holding a tray.

"Oh, hey…" I said.

"C-can we join you?" Yachi asked nervously.

"Oh, sure. I mean, I've finished eating already, so I'll leav-"

"Stay! We'd like to talk with you. I mean… please." Yamaguchi asked and I remained seated.

"Thanks." he smiled and they sat down. I didn't know what to say so I kept silent and waited. They both started eating; Yachi was eating curry and Yamaguchi had a bowl of katsudon.

"So uhm…" Yamaguchi tried starting a conversation.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Uhm…" he had already failed.

"Ah I can't just keep watching this. Kageyama-kun! We need to talk about Hinata!" Yachi took the initiative.

"Ohh…" Yamaguchi was surprised by Yachi's determination and his cheeks turned red.

"I know it's a difficult situation, but… you know, I…"

"No I don't…" I said finally.

"H-huh?"

"I said I don't _know_. I don't know what I should do, I'm a complete mess, I don't even know how to face him later."

"You'll meet him later?" Yamaguchi asked.

"Yeah, he can leave the hospital today and wanted to go to school this afternoon to check out things again. He asked me if I could show him around and stuff."

"Oh, that's… amazing." Yachi said.

"It's Hinata after all." Yamaguchi added.

"True."

"That's the problem." I said.

"Huh?" they said simultaneously.

"It's still Hinata. It's still the person I care about most, but he just…" I stopped for a second. After taking a deep breath I explained the situation to them. I told them about what happened and about our call. I also told them about everything that was going through my mind. It was the first time I talked about it with someone, and I noticed how it took a load off my mind. I calmed down again.

"…I see." Yachi sighed.

"Yeah."

"I'd like to tell you to just wait and see what happens, but I understand that it's too much to ask for. If I imagine myself in your situation, I think I wouldn't know what to do either. And telling you all this isn't helpful at all." Yachi explained.

"It's okay. Thank you for insisting on talking to me, it helped." I smiled.

"I-if you say so." she looked worried.

"Yes. I'll manage somehow."

"Kageyama…" Yamaguchi looked worried too.

"Just… just know that we're here if you need to talk or help or… anything, o-okay?" Yachi looked at me.

"Yes. Thank you, Yachi, Yamaguchi." I said.

"No problem." she smiled.

"We're friends after all." he smiled as well.

"I think I should get going now. I need to think about some things on my own, okay?" I said as I stood up.

"Sure! Just, don't overthink things." she added.

"I won't. Okay I'll let you two be alone so you have some time for yourselves."

"Wh-wh-wha-what a-are you talking a-about, Ka-Kageyama-kun? I-it's not l-like we're… I mean, not that I'd min-I mean, I do l-l-li-I mean, I…" Yachi's head seemed to have overheated. Yamaguchi was just sitting there with a bright red face, staring into his bowl. I laughed, said good bye and left the cafeteria. The sun was shining and there were no clouds in the sky. I decided to take a walk until the next class started.

After walking around for a while, I suddenly started feeling dizzy in my head. The heat was probably too much and because I didn't eat much for lunch, I didn't have that much energy. I went back and bought something to drink; fainting from a heat stroke wasn't something I wanted to have to deal with at the moment.

I went back to class and sat down at my desk. After the teacher entered the room everyone sat down on their desks as well.

"Kageyama-kun, the principal called you to his office. You have a visitor, so you're excused. Please gather your things and be on your way. Everyone else, we'll start class now. Open the book on page 328." the teacher said as he turned around and started writing on the blackboard. I knew he was talking about Hinata, so I did as he said and silently left the classroom.

I reached the principal's office's door, knocked on it and slowly opened it.

"Excuse me, it's Kageyama and…" I peeked inside and saw the principal, Hinata and Haruka-san standing in the room.

"Hello Kageyama-kun, thank you for coming." the principal said.

"Good day sir." I bowed down.

"I've heard about everything from Hinata-san, so I'll just entrust Hinata-kun to you, is that okay?" he smiled.

"Yes, of course." I answered.

"Very well then. Hinata-kun, you may leave. I'd like to talk to your mother about some other things, alright?"

"Sure!" Hinata grinned.

"Call me if you want to go home, okay?" Haruka-san told him.

"Will do, mom. Let's go Kageyama." he said and opened the door. I bowed down again and followed after Hinata.

"I didn't think this would be such a big thing." Hinata said after a while.

"Yeah…"

"You okay?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"Well I don't know, you seem kinda… down."

"Oh, well… sorry, I guess it's just the heat today."

"Oh yeah, it's pretty hot outside."

"Yes…"

"So… where are we going? Actually, why am I the one leading?" Hinata stopped walking and looked at me.

"Oh, right. Sorry. I'll just show you the important rooms first." I said as I took the lead. I showed him around school. Showed him our classrooms, the cafeteria, printing room; everything I thought of as he'd need to know. After that we went outside.

"Whoa, what's that huge banner on the wall?" he pointed at the banner hanging from one of the school's walls.

"You may have memory loss, but I think you can still read."

"Oh… right, hehe…" he grinned at me and faced the banner again.

"'Fly Karasuno Volleyball Club!'…wait a sec, that's your clu-I mean, our club, right? Are we that good for the school to put up a banner like that?!" he looked at me with big eyes.

"Well, kinda. I guess so."

"Aaaawesome!" his eyes sparkled and I couldn't help but smile.

"Let me show you the club room and gym."

"Yes please!" he said happily and we continued walking. I showed him the way to our club room and finally to the gym where we practised almost every day after school. While showing him around the entire school he was always smiling and being the happy and full of energy Hinata I liked so much. It only made it harder when I remembered how he didn't identify himself with the _other_ him. Even though he clearly was the same person as before, just that he didn't remember it.

"Say, Kageyama?" his voice cut through my thoughts and pulled me back to reality.

"Y-yes?"

"Can you gimme some passes?"

"H-huh?"

"You're the setter, right? I wanna see if I can smash some!" he said eagerly.

"What? Right now? But you don't remember anyth-"

"I won't know unless I try!" he looked me in the eyes.

"Idiot." I sighed.

"Is that a yes?"

"Wait here and don't move, I'll go get the key to open the gym."

"Awesome, thanks Kageyama!" he smiled brightly.

When I came back after some minutes with the key in my hand, Hinata was already fidgeting with his arms in front of the gym's door.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Oh! I… I, uh… n-nothing?"

"I see. I have the keys." I stepped closer and opened the doors.

"Whoa, the gym's big."

"If you say so. So what do you wanna do now?" I asked.

"How about you jus-"

"And here I was wondering who the culprit was when the teacher said someone had already taken the key to the gym." I heard Suga-san's voice. I turned around and saw him standing in the door.

"Suga-san!"

"Hey Kageyama, and welcome back Hinata. I knew you'd come back soon." he smiled.

"Uhm… Suga-san, he…"

"Oh, right. Sorry, I forgot. I'm Sugawara Koushi, vice-captain of the Karasuno Volleyball Club."

"O-oh! H-hello, I'm Hinata Shou-wait, you… already know that…"

"Idiot." I flicked his forehead.

"Ow."

"I see you two haven't really changed, huh?" Suga-san started laughing.

"Really?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah, it's just like before you two started dating and-ah, no… I… that's not what I wanted to…" Suga-san said what I wanted to hear least.

"…please excuse myself." I said while looking down and slowly started walking away.

"Just like before…" Hinata repeated Suga-san's words. That was one of the things I didn't want to happen, I didn't want him to realize that. If he did he'd want things to be just like before, but I wasn't strong enough to endure that. I wouldn't be able to…

"Kageyama, I… that's not what I meant, I just…" Suga-san tried to explain, but I didn't listen, I headed to the door.

"Kageyama, wait! Can we-" but as soon as I heard Hinata speak, my mind went blank and I started running away.

"H-hey, wait!" Hinata yelled and started running after me.

"Don't follow me!" I yelled.

"Stop running then!"

"No!"

"Kageyama!"

"Leave me alone!"

"I won't!"

"Just leave me alone!" I yelled and continued running. I left school grounds and continued running. I took a look behind of me, but Hinata was still chasing me.

"Kageyama, stop running!"

"Stop chasing me!

"No!"

The sun was standing on top of the firmament, ruthlessly shining down on the both of us. I slowly started noticing how the heat got the better of me and I started feeling more exhausted with every second I kept on running. My head started feeling dizzy again and I slowed down a bit. We reached a crossroads when Hinata finally caught up to me and grabbed my arm, preventing me from running away any longer.

"Kageyama, stop it!"

"Let… go of me…" I panted, I was more exhausted than I thought.

"No! Why did you run away, I just-"

"Because I don't want it to be like it was before!" I yelled as loud as I could, attracting the attention of the people passing by.

"What?"

"Just like Suga-san said! Everything is like when before we started dating. But that's not what I want. I still love you. And I want you to remember as well. But-" Hinata interrupted me by flicking my forehead.

"Shut up for a second!" he said angrily.

"H-huh?"

"Do you think you're the only one in pain?! Do you think you're the only that dislikes this whole situation?! Well guess what, you're not! I feel miserable! Do you have any idea how it feels to just forget about most of your past? Do you understand how I feel, not being able to remember the faces or names of my friends? Not being able to remember the person I loved?! Do you not understand, how horrible I feel not being able to remember experiences from the past? I've forgotten about fun times, exciting times, stressful times, sad times, times when I was angry… I have almost no memories of anything at all! Do you think I like this situation?!" tears started forming in his eyes. He put his head on my chest, formed a fist and punched my shoulder.

"H-Hinata…"

"I hate it! Damn it all, I hate this! There's nothing that would make me happier than getting back my memories!"

"…I'm… I'm sorry, I…" I realized how selfish I had been the entire time since Hinata woke up. All the time I had only been thinking about myself, not even considering in the slightest how he felt about everything. I was ashamed of myself, I didn't know I could be like that.

"Don't apologize! Stop apologizing! The thing that I like least is seeing how hurt you are because of me!" he looked up to my face, his face covered in tears. My eyes widened, I couldn't bear it any longer. I pushed him away, turned around and closed my eyes. I took a step forward, not noticing that I was standing right in front of the street, not noticing that the lights were red. I heard the shrieking sound of a car horn, followed by the sound of Hinata's scream.

"Kageyama!"


	9. There is no shadow without the sun

When I opened my eyes it was dark. I turned around, but there was no light anywhere, everything was pitch black dark. I stood up and wanted to ask if someone else was there, but when I opened my mouth, there was no voice. As hard as I tried to let words leave my mouth, they didn’t echo through the air. Was there even air in the first place? Or was I in some kind of huge, black void?

I started walking, but not even my footsteps were making a sound as I continued on moving forward with no goal. I had no memories of what had happened before I woke up in this blackness. Was it a dream? Was it reality?  I didn’t know. All I knew is that no matter how long I kept on walking, everything remained black. I got tired of walking and got slower with every step. When I came to a stop I crouched down, closed my eyes and covered my ears with my hands. I was all alone in the darkness. I noticed how it was gradually getting colder. I longed for light. I longed for warmth. I longed for…

“…” I said voicelessly.

I opened my eyes again and noticed how tears had started running down my cheeks. I knew what I was longing for, but at the same time I didn’t know either. But for some reason I didn’t want to give up. My heart was beating fast, as if telling me to keep on trying. I stood up again and wished my tears out of my face. I opened my mouth and screamed with all my might.

“…”

I repeated it several times, but nothing changed. I rested my hands on my knees, breathing heavily like I just played in a difficult volleyball match. But I continued. I screamed again. And again. And again.

“…”

I collapsed from exhaustion and lied down on my back. I looked upwards into the vast nothingness. I wanted to try it again, but when I was about to open my mouth again a stinging pain in my throat stopped me from doing so. I got up on my feet one last time, using every last bit of strength I had. I was still breathing heavily, but I took one last deep breath and…

Just when I was about to scream out my longing for the last time, I saw a faint light flicker in the distance for a split second. I was so surprised by it that I forgot to scream and just stared into the direction I saw the light. I squinted and tried finding it again, but it was nowhere to be seen. Did I just imagine it? Was my mind already laying tricks on me? But when I took another deep breath, I saw it again. This time I reflexively started running towards the light. It was there for only a short moment, but I wanted to know what it was. My willpower was stronger than my physical exhaustion and I ran even though my legs were hurting with every step. I didn’t mind about my body anymore, I just wanted to confirm whether there was indeed a light or not. And after running for what felt like an eternity, the light flickered once more; it had become bigger than before, I was approaching it slowly.

After another while I finally reached the flickering light. I looked down to my feet and saw a little burning candle on the floor. It was such a tiny light that could be easily overlooked, but strangely enough I was attracted by it. I crouched down to the candle and felt its warmth. I finally found a light in the darkness. A warmth in the cold. _Something_ in the nothing.

I lied down next to it, my face turned to the light. I observed the tiny flame. It looked like it was struggling to survive, like it was fighting against being extinguished. Why are you fighting, I asked the flame in my head. Why are you still struggling in this place full of nothing? Wouldn’t it be easier for you to stop burning? Wouldn’t it be easier for _me_ to stop trying? I sat up and looked around one last time, but there was nothing. Just me, the tiny flame and darkness. And I made my choice. I damped my thumb and my index finger and stretched out my arm to the flame.

“…” I said to it and extinguished the flame with my fingers. But when I let go of it the flame continued burning.

“…” I was confused. I tried one more time, but the candle kept on burning. And every time I did it again, the flame seemed to be getting bigger and bigger, until…

“Stop it!” I heard a familiar voice. I startled and moved away my hand.

“…” I asked.

“Who I am? Really? That’s your question?” the voice said. I knew that voice.

“…”

“Right in front of you.” it continued and I realized the voice was coming from the flame.

“…” I asked again.

“Whatever, just hurry up and wake up, idiot.”

“…”

“Yes, you’re an…”

“…idiot!!” I heard someone scream. And when I opened my eyes I saw Hinata’s head lying on my chest. I looked around and recognized a familiar room. It was the hospital room where Hinata had been sleeping all that time, but this time I was the one lying on the bed.

“Hinata? What happened?” I tried leaning forward but Hinata was in the way.

“K-K-Kageyamaaa?!” he jumped up and stared at me.

“Yes?”

“You’re awake!”

“I… guess? What happened?”

“What happened?! You’re asking what happened!? Are you stupid?!”

“And why am I…” but before I could continue, the door to the room opened and I saw Haruka-san and someone else enter.

“Mom! Kageyama is awake!” Hinata screamed.

“Really? Kageyama-kun, are you alright? Your mother is on her way here and… Thank goodness, I’m so happy that you’re okay.” small tears started forming in Haruka-san’s eyes.

“This is good news. Hinata-san, if you could, would you let his mother know that he’s awake again? I’ll need to run some small tests and if everything’s fine he can leave later today.” the man that had entered the room said to Haruka-san. He looked like a doctor. He approached me and started talking to me.

“Hello Kageyama-kun, how are you feeling? Everything alright?” he asked.

“Well… I think so, only my arm hurts a bit.”

“Hoho, no wonder. It sounded like you landed pretty roughly.” he chuckled.

“I… what? What happened, why am I here in the first place? The last thing I remember is running away from Hi---“ and then it dawned on me. I remembered what had happened, but before I could say anything else, Hinata had already taken that role.

“I’ll tell you what happened!” Hinata grabbed me by my shirt and started talking. “Now listen, you idiot. What were you thinking just walking on the street without looking?! If I hadn’t pulled you back in the last moment… Why do you keep on running away? Weren’t you the one that wasn’t going to give up when I was sleeping all the time? Weren’t you the one that was always by my side, waiting for me to wake up? Where did that willpower go, huh?! And just so you know, I remember everything again! You’re reckless action triggered the memories of when it happened to me, I hope you’re happy. And also---“

“You… you remember?” I interrupted him.

“I wasn’t done talking!”

“Did you say that… you got your memories back?” my eyes widened.

“Are you daft?! Yes I remembered! But what if something had happened to you? What if you… What should I have done without you… stupid… Kageyama…” Hinata’s voice became silent and he looked down.

“I’m… I’m sorr---“

“Stop apologising alrea---“ he looked up again, tears in eyes. He couldn’t continue his sentence when he saw my face. I was crying as well, but I was smiling. I was happy.

“Welcome back, Hinata.” I said.

“…I’m back.” he answered and hugged me.

“I don’t mean to interrupt you, but…” the doctor started talking again and Hinata jumped back.

“Oh, uh… yes. I’m sorry.” he dried his tears and started laughing.

“Thank you, Hinata.”

“Why are you thanking me?”

“I had a dream while I was asleep. I was in a dark place, with no light at all. I didn’t know what I was doing there nor how I ended up there, but I knew that I was longing for something. I was longing for a light, for warmth; for the sun. I think I was longing for you, so I kept on shouting your name, but my voice had been gone.  I tried countless times and when I wanted to give up, a small candle told me to wake up instead. I think that candle was you. Like you, it wouldn’t stop burning, it was constantly fighting to survive. And just like you had finally woken up, that flame woke me up as well. I don’t know what would’ve happened if you hadn’t been there for me, Hinata.” I explained. Silence was in the air for a moment until Hinata said something again.

“Doctor? I think something’s broken with his head, you should take a look at it.” he said.

“Wh-what? No! I’m fine, I’m just telling you what I---“

“Alright Kageyama-kun, why don’t you lie down for a bit and I’ll run some tests, okay?” the doctor said. They thought I had lost my mind, but I couldn’t really blame them. After hearing the story out loud I noticed how crazy it sounded. But I didn’t mind, I knew what had happened, and I was sure that the voice I heard in my dream – if it really was a dream – was Hinata. The entire time when he was in the coma I thought I’d be the one protecting him. I told myself I had to be strong for him. But the truth was, he was the one supporting me all the time. I realized that I only had the power to do everything I did because of him. All the memories of times I spent with Hinata had given me strength. Even though he was sleeping all the time, it was as if he was always looking out for me. He was the reason I didn’t give up hope. And when he woke up and didn’t remember anything, it was like the sun that had been watching over me was gone. I was reaching out to the sun to give me something to hold onto, and when he woke up and I was about to grab that sun, it stopped shining. I think that’s why I started acting like I did, trying to run away instead of looking for a way to get it back. I think that was also the reason for that vast blackness I was in. That was how I felt. Lost and left alone, without any light to guide me. But nonetheless, his light was still there deep inside. It had never vanished completely, I just failed to see it. After all, what they say is true; there is no shadow without the sun.

My mom arrived shortly after everything was taken care of. The first thing she did when seeing me was slap me in my face. I probably deserved it. She was angry that I made everyone worry with my reckless behaviour, and she was right. After that she hugged me tightly and told me to never scare her like that again. I apologised to everyone and we left the hospital. It had been a stressful day and everyone headed home. When I got home I grabbed my phone and texted Hinata. But instead of texting back, he called back.

“Hey. You good?” he asked.

“Yes, everything’s fine. It’s just… a lot happened.”

“No need telling me.”

“Sorry.”

“Stop that, seriously.”

“Sor…” I stopped talking. I heard Hinata sigh.

“Say, Kageyama?”

“Yes?”

“Do you… uhm, wanna come over? We kind of couldn’t end our conversation earlier.”

“Oh, uhm… are you sure?”

“Yeah, you could also stay for dinner and… maybe… longer?”

“…”

“Kageyama?”

“I-is your mom okay with it?”

“Wait. Moooooooom!!” I heard Hinata scream and moved my phone away from my ear.

“Yes Shouyouuuuu?” I heard Haruka-san shout back at Hinata in the background.

“Can Kageyama come for dinner?!”

“Of course he can! I wanted to thank him anyway for all the trouble! Tell him to invite his parents as well!”

“Okay, thanks!!” their conversation through the entire houses ended.

“She said---“

“I heard it.” I answered quickly.

“Oh, okay cool. So?”

“I’ll ask my mom then. Dad is on a business trip anyways, so he’s not home.”

“Okay then, see you later.”

“Okay.” I hang up. I explained everything to mom and after a while we were ready to leave and went to Hinata’s house. While my mom helped Haruka-san in the kitchen, Hinata, Natsu and I were playing a game in the living room. After eating dinner and our mothers talking for more than an hour, mom noticed how late it had gotten and was about to leave.

“Tobio, it’s time to…” she said as she entered the living room. Natsu had fallen asleep on the couch and Hinata and I were sitting on the floor, watching a movie. He was sitting in front of me and I had my arms around him, resting my head on his head.

“Do you understand what’s happening right now?” he asked me.

“Not at all.” I answered.

“Why do we always end up watching weird movies?”

“Who knows…”

“Tobio.” mom repeated.

“Oh, yes?”

“I was about to leave, but it looks like you’re still busy, huh?” she smiled. Haruka-san entered the room as well.

“Kageyama-kun can stay the night, that’s no problem.”

“Are you sure, Haruka?” mom asked.

“Sure, I’ll lay out the futon in Shouyou’s room then, okay?” Haruka-san smiled.

“Well okay then, make sure to behave, Tobio.” she looked at me.

“I will mom.”

“Good night to you all then, I’ll head home now.” mom said and turned around.

“Byebye.” Hinata and I said in unison.

“Take care on your way home, Mana.” Haruka-san said.

“I will, thank you for the meal. Bye Haruka.” mom said and left.

“Boys, don’t stay up too late, okay?”

“Yes mom, we’ll just finish this movie and go to bed then.” Hinata said.

“Alright. I’ll take Natsu to bed, lay out Kageyama-kun’s futon and then I’ll head to bed as well. Good night you two.” she said as she took Natsu and walked upstairs.

“You tired yet?” I asked.

“Not really.”

“Me neither.”

“Well let’s finish the movie and then we’ll see.” he said and we continued watching.

After is ended we tried to figure out what the point of the movie was, but we came to no conclusion and decided to go to sleep. We got bed ready and entered Hinata’s room. He lied down on his bed and I lied down on the futon on the floor.

“K-Kageyama?”

“Hmm?”

“You can… sleep in the bed too, i-if you want…” he said suddenly.

“…”

“Kageyama?” he asked and I hid underneath the futon. I didn’t know how to react to that.

“Are you asleep already?” he asked.

“N-no… but… are you sure?” I asked.

“S-sure. I just felt like… sleeping next to you. Is all…” he stopped for a moment and apparently realized why I was hesitating.

“D-d-don’t get me wrong, j-just sleeping. Nothing more! O-okay?!” he said nervously and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Why are you laughing now?!” he blushed.

“No reason.” I smiled, stood up and lied down next to him. We were facing each other and he was trying to avoid eye contact. I just smiled and after a while he turned around.

“I’ll turn of the light now, okay?” he asked.

“Sure.” I said and he did.

“Arm.”

“What?” I was confused.

“Arm! Your arm!” he repeated but I didn’t understand what he meant. Then he just grabbed my right arm, put it under his head and used it as a cushion.

“You could’ve just said so, airhead.” I said.

“Sh-shut up! Night!” he said. I giggled and put my other arm around his waist and closed my eyes.

“Good night, Hinata. I love you.” I said silently.

“…me too.” he whispered. We both fell asleep shortly afterwards.

When I woke up the sun was shining through the window and into my eyes. I yawned and wanted to stretch, but Hinata had put his arms around me and was hugging me tightly, still sleeping. I chuckled, ruffled his hair and kissed him on his forehead.

“Good morning, my sunshine.”

 

**End**


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